Q branch may question Maoists held at Pollachi

The arrest came after parents of Santhosh Kumar, a tribal youth, approached the police saying that the three were responsible for his son’s disappearance.

The trio had disclosed to the police that they had sent Santhosh Kumar to the tri-junction forest area where Naxals were believed to be very active. The police are worried if the three had brainwashed and recruited more youths and sent them to tri-junction to be part of the Naxal group. Left extremists find it easy to operate at the junction because they can easily cross over from one state to another.

The arrested persons, a former cop, Ganapathy, 39, Selvaraj, 55, and Sikhamani, 27, were believed to be strong sympathisers of the banned CPI (Maoist). The arrest of the three Left extremists in Pollachi —which came a month after ‘Q’ branch nabbed five Maoists, including the couple, Roopesh and Shyna, at Karumathampatty near Coimbatore, indicated that western Tamil Nadu has a good share of Maoist sympathisers because of the area’s proximity to the tri-junction area.

The three were part of an outfit called ‘Jaathi Ozhippu Viduthalai Munnetra Iyakkam’ (Caste Eradication, Liberation, Progressive Movement) which had reportedly shifted a large number of tribals, who were living in a residential neighbourhood of J.J. Nagar in Angalakurichi, to settle in the reserve forests of Anamalai Tiger Reserve. The tribals were later evacuated from the forest.

Santhosh Kumar’s father Arjunan from Angalakurichi had lodged a complaint that his son was missing since August last year. “As of now, we know only one case. There could be more,” said a police officer here.