Thiruvananthapuram: The state police intelligence wing has conveyed to the Congress party’s state unit to avoid any rash electioneering lest it should hamper security arrangements and undermine the safety of the VVIP, UDF candidate Rahul Gandhi, whose close proximity will be covered by the SPG and the outer layers by the local police.
A high state of alert prevails in Wayanad, which along with Malappuram and Palakkad, has been listed among districts with light wing extremists (LWEs) and receives special assistance from the Ministry of Home Affairs in counter-terror activities.
The Intelligence wing has conducted reconnaissance and mapped the sensitive locations in adjoining locations and conveyed to the SPG and local police the high risk nature of operations.
The death of Maoist leader C P Jaleel in Thunderbolt action on March 7 at a resort in Vythiri and confirmed episodes of use of arms and ammunition by the LWEs in the district have led to a security scale-up in view of the elections. Besides, there have been warnings by Maoist cadre of reprisals for the killing.
In November 2016, two Maoists, including a woman, were killed allegedly in an encounter with the police inside Nilambur forests. The encounter had taken place midnight about 15 km inside the jungle from the Padukka forest station in the Karulai range of the Nilambur South division. The dead were identified as Koppam Devarajan, CPI (Maoist) central committee member, and Ajita, aka Kaveri.
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