Kozhikode: Resort staff, police differ over firing

KOZHIKODE: Encounter or cold-blooded murder? This is the million-dollar question that the police will be compelled to answer in the killing of Maoist cadre C.P. Jaleel, 28, at the Upavan Resort in Lakkidy, Wayanad, on Wednesday night.

The mystery shrouding the killing has deepened with the resort staff on Friday coming out with statements that contradict the police version that the firing started for self-defence. The staff also dismissed the earlier police version that the Thunderbolt team arrived on the basis of the information given by the staff. The post-mortem report revealed that the bullets were hit from behind and not from the front, which means the police fired at the retreating Maoist cadres.

The police kept in captivity the entire resort staff till Friday and they were not allowed to interact with the media. Their mobile phones also were in police custody.

Upavan Resort manager K.C. Renjith told reporters that the firing started soon after the police reached the spot. He also said that it took about half an hour to prepare food demanded by the Maoists. The delay helped police to reach the spot before the cadres left, he said. However, later he came out with another version that he was away from the resort when the incident occurred.

“It was only from other employees I came to know about the gunfight. I didn’t say the police opened fire. I said the gunfight started after the police reached the spot,” he said.

This twist in his reaction may be due to the management’s fear of retaliation by the Maoists and the police action.

However, police sources said that there was surveillance in the area and that the information was passed soon after the Maoists reached the spot. There were instructions from the top that there should be a result in Maoist hunting operations in Wayanad where there has been no direct confrontation between the police and Maoists, except the report on Maoists visits and polcie combing operations.

It was in 2014 the first gunfight between Maoists and police was reported in the state. On November 24, 2016, two Maoists, Kuppu Devaraj and Ajitha, were killed in police firing at Karulayi forests near Nilambur in Malappuram district. It may be recalled that the CPI leadership which flayed their killing maintained a cryptic silence this time.

Another allegation raised by activists was that the move was aimed at ensuring a share of central funds for anti-Maoist action.

Human rights activists and academics pointed out that none was killed by Maoists or such Left extremist outfits in the state for the last many decades. Rights activist Dr P.G. Hari told DC that apart from the rumours and slanders spread by police, the Maoists had not killed anyone in the state in the recent past. “They were raising human rights issues, distributing propaganda materials exposing the suppression of the poorest and resisting the autocratic elements in the system to protect the poor,” he added. It is for the second time that they killed Maoists on the run, said another activist. “It seems that they were trained only to kill,” he added.

The brother of C.P. Jaleel has asked the state government to slap murder charges on the policemen before ordering any judicial inquiry.