The Kerala High Court on Monday ordered an inquiry into the killings of two Maoists - Karthik and Kannan - who were gunned down in an alleged fake encounters in Agali in Palakkad district on October 28 and 29.
Justice R Narayana Pisharadi directed the police to conduct a probe into the circumstances leading to the killing of two suspected Maoists in an alleged encounter in Agali forests of Palakkad district last month. The court delivered the order based on the petitions of the relatives of the two Maoists. The judge asked the government to find out whether the police officers who had taken part in the encounter committed any offences.
The court directed to seize the weapons used by the police and send them for forensic and ballistic analysis.
Four Maoists Manivaskam, Karthi, Rama and Arvind were killed in two encounters allegedly stage-managed by Thunder Bolts, Kerala Police's counter-insurgency wing, in Agali forest on October 28 and 29.
Permission for burial
The High Court also allowed the burial of the four slain Maoists. Their burial became a contentious issue with families and human rights activists demanding thorough investigations into the encounters before disposing the bodies.
On November 5, the Palakkad Sessions Court had given permission to dispose all four bodies. A day later, the High Court had stayed cremation of two bodies. All four bodies have been kept at the Thrissur Medical College mortuary.
CPI hails High Court order
Kerala's ruling coalition partner Communist Party of India (CPI) welcomed High Court's order on Tuesday. “Police should register a case for murder and investigate it,” CPI Assistant Secretary K Prakash Babu said.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had denied the allegations and described the deaths of Maoists as “extremely unfortunate” but said it happened because the Thunderbolt Commandos had to fire in self-defence.
Seven encounter deaths have occurred in Kerala after Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front came to power. In 2016, Thunderbolts gunned down Kuppu Devarajan and Ajitha inside the Nilambur forest in Malappuram district. In March 2019, the commando force killed C P Jaleel at a resort in Vythiri in Wayanad district. Though the government ordered magisterial and crime branch investigations into the encounters, the reports have not been released yet.
