Thiruvananthapuram: A day after a Maoist was killed in a shootout, Kerala Police have come under a cloud following the revelation of the manager at the resort which the rebel group had visited on Wednesday night.
Resort manager Renjith claimed that the Maoists did not take anyone hostage and it was the police who began firing first. "The Maoists behaved in a polite manner. It is true that they had asked for food and money, but they did not threaten us for it. Moreover, none of the resort staff called the police for help," he told News18.
Police had said CP Jaleel, a member of the Maoist group, was killed in an encounter with the special 'Thunderbolt' (anti-Maoists) commandos on Wednesday around 9:30 pm. However, Jaleel's relatives had rejected the claims of the police and alleged that it was a "fake encounter".
The Kerala police in a statement on Thursday said, "The Maoists had reached the resort at Vythiri at 8.30 pm and tried to snatch money and food from the staff. It was the Maoists who started firing when police reached the spot after getting a call from the staff."
The statement further said that the police had received a lot of complaints from the locals and traders against the Maoists and "their tendency to usurp money from the institutions related to tourism such as resorts and hotels were on a raise".
"The action plan to counter the Maoists movements had been fortified following the information gathered by the intelligence agencies. The specially trained police force with the support of Thunderbolt, Anti-naxal Squad, had started the combing called Operation Anaconda from last December in areas that fall under the districts of Wayanad, Malappuram, Kannur and Kozhikkod rural," Kannur Range IG Balram Kumar Upadhyaya said, adding that Operation Anaconda will continue to counter Maoist activities.
According to sources, IG visited the resort twice a week before the operation. He had stayed at the resort when he visited Wayanad to pay homage to CRPF jawan VV Vasanathkumar, who was killed in the terrorist attack in Pulwama.
Meanwhile, Jaleel's post-mortem will be held at Kozhikode Medical College Hospital on Friday.
Comments
0 comment