‘Kerala Q branch police said they would eliminate us in an encounter’, says Maoists
Roopesh
Coimbatore: The five Maoists, produced in the district sessions court after the end of 10 days of police custody on Friday, raised an allegation that the ‘Q’ branch sleuths of Kerala threatened to eliminate them in an encounter while under police custody. “The ‘Q’ branch police from Kerala threatened to kill us in an encounter by taking us into a forest area,” said top Maoist leader Roopesh, while replying to a query by judge M.P. Subramanian, on police torture.
His wife Shyna filed a written complaint with the judge against the Kerala police alleging that they warned of arresting her mother and her two daughters. “They hurled abuses in a foul language during the course of the investigation,” she said. Anoop Mathew George told the judge that the Kerala police made a forceful attempt to make him sign in a ‘confessional statement’ to implicate him in several other cases too. “They also threatened to kill me in an encounter, if I did not give in,” he said.
While Veeramani alias Eswaran also raised the issue of cops threatening to eliminate him in an encounter, Kannan prayed to the court to issue orders to the Coimbatore central prison authorities to provide basic amenities. “I couldn’t take bath or wash my clothes as I was lodged in a solitary cell,” he said.
PUCL state secretary S. Balamurugan, who appeared on behalf of the Left wing extremists, made a plea not to keep the Maoists in solitary confinement. “Though the police custody was granted only to ‘Q’ Branch of Tamil Nadu, its counterparts from Kerala and Karnataka have interfered and issued threats to the five persons,” he pointed out.
The judge then ordered the prison authorities to provide basic amenities and offer medical assistance to the five persons in accordance with the prison manual. Though cops from Kerala and Karnataka moved the court seeking custody of the five Maoists, they were denied custody by the court. The high court has also passed an order not to extend the custody of the five Maoists to the ‘Q’ branch police.
High drama prevailed earlier when the Maoists were brought to the court as they raised slogans against the ‘Q’ branch sleuths of Kerala and Karnataka, who allegedly threatened to kill them in an encounter. The five Maoists, remanded till June 3, were lodged at the Coimbatore central prison. The ‘Q’ branch sleuths of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh swooped down on the five Maoists, R. Roopesh alias Praveen, 45, his wife R. Shyna, 42, J. Anup, 31, C. Veeramani alias Eswaran, 60, and C. Kannan, 46, at a teashop near Karumathampatty, in Coimbatore on May 4.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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