THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A fact-finding team of the CPI which visited Attapa-dy last week has said the alleged encounter in which four Maoists were killed was a well- planned police action.
The report was submitted to CPI state secretary Kanam Rajednran by the delegation leader Prak-ash Babu on Monday. The report has called for magisterial probe into the killings which the police had claimed to be an encounter. Mr Rajendran is expected to submit the report to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday.
The delegation that visited the ‘encounter’ site at Manjakandy in Palakkad, levelled serious allegations against police and accused the cops of stage-managing the action. It had termed the video circulated by police as fake.
The report pointed out that the Maoists had posed no threat to the locals. One of the Maoists, Manivasakan who was badly injured, was gunned down from a close range according to the information given by people living in the hamlet.
It said the police claims about Maoist firing were refuted by locals. The wo-unds sustained by Maniv-asakan would reveal that he was captured and shot dead from a close range, the report claimed.
The report questioned the veracity of the video released by police.
The video footage indicates that the positioning of the Thunderbolt personnel during operation was in violation of the standard operating procedures laid down for such “encounters.”
It pointed out that the so called encounter site does not present any tell-tale sign of an armed engagement between the security forces and Maoists. The local adivasis have testified that the Maoists were having food when the police action took place.
The CPI has urged the government to conduct a magisterial inquiry to bring out the truth and bring the police officers responsible for the killing to justice. The district collector and other top functionaries of civil administration should be included in the inquiry process, it said.
Meanwhile, CPI mouthpiece Janayugam hit out at the gunning down of Maoists and slapping of UAPA charges against two youths.
The article cautioned against such extra judicial killings which were against the well-laid out stand of the Left parties.
