Kochi: The gunning down of four Maoists by the Thunderbolt team at Manchikk-andy near Attapady was quite unwanted, according to Jyothi Anilkumar, president of Pudur village panchayat that covers the region. Refuting the version of the security agencies, she said that the team opened fire when the Maoists were resting after having food on Monday.
Ms. Jyothi, CPI leader and president of the panchayat for the past four years, was speaking to this paper over phone.
“The people of the tribal settlement at Manchikk-andy, located 1.5 km from the alleged encounter site, told me the details about the incident when I talked to them on Monday night,” she said. The site is a 15-minute walk from Manchikkandy for the local people, she said and added that Maoists were camping in the area for the past two to three yea-rs. The firing took place in an area not having thick forests or ravines.
“There was not a single incident of Maoists thre-atening local villagers or committing violence during the past four years,” she said. They had visited the tribal settlement for purchasing provisions and other requirements, but never with arms, she added.
The police officials refused to show her or the people the bodies of the Maoists. “I was there till 8 p.m. on Tuesday but they drove off with the bodies suddenly,” she said.
Ms Jyothi feels that the Maoists might have set up a temporary shed with plastic sheets on Saturday as two of them came to the settlement to buy provisions, as per the information given by local people. They often met the Maoists while grazing sheep in the forest region, she said. They held classes in the settlement around two years ago and mainly talked about people rightd and the ways to achieve them from the government bodies.
“They did not say anything about guerilla warfare in the settlement” she added. Manchikkandy is a settlement of 60 families of indigenous community belonging to Irular.
