Kozhikode: The police lacks any sort of conclusive evidence of the involvement of Maoists in the incident when a forest watcher at Poonthottakkadavu in Nilambur forests division in Malappuram district was fired at.
“It is not right on our part to jump into any premature conclusions”, said S. Gopinath, IG, Thrissur Range, on Sunday.
He had convened a meeting of top police and forest officials of the district in the wake of the incident at Nilambur on Friday.
“We had evaluated the situation but at this stage we have not received any concrete evidence of the involvement of Maoists in the attack”, he said.
Gopinath also said that he had convened the meeting of the top police and forest officials as part of routine investigation.
On submitting a report about the incident to Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, the IG said all such matters were part of routine police work.
He declined to share any information on the reports that armed squads of left wings extremists were being frequently sighted at the Nilambur forest ranges.
A group of unidentified people had fired at a forest watcher of the Poonthottakkadavu forest camp on Thursday evening.
However, no one was hurt in the incident. Forest officials are of the view that the attack was the handiwork of left wing extremists in the region.
