Amidst reports of Maoists establishing bases among the Adivasis of Kerala’s northern districts, the Communist extremists threatened a constable of the Kerala Police at his home at Vellamunda in the mountainous Wayanad district late Thursday night. The State Home Department has demanded an urgent report on the incident from the Wayanad police chief.
According to a complaint filed by Pramod, a constable belonging to the Mananthavady unit of the Traffic Police, four Maoists led by extremist leader Roopesh, a Keralite, reached his house at midnight Thursday and threatened to kill him by pointing a gun at him through the window if he did not stop being an informer on Maoists.Pramod said he was certain that he was threatened by none other than Roopesh who spoke in Malayalam language laced with Tamil. He also said that the group had one man, Roopesh, and three women, all carrying guns. The police, who questioned the Adivasis residing in the area, have already identified the other Maoists in the group.
Pramod and his mother said that the Maoists had knocked on the door of the house at midnight Thursday but they did not open the door as the area was known to have been infested with Maoists. When they opened a window, someone from outside caught hold of Pramod’s hand through it and threatened him, they said.“The man who spoke to Pramod asked him to resign from the job in the police and to start farm work. Otherwise they would kill him, they said,” the constable’s mother said. The Maoists also tried to torch Pramod’s motorcycle parked outside the house and stuck posters on the walls warning him against tipping off on extremists.
Following the incident, a team of Kerala Police’s elite commando unit, the Thunderbolt, held a combing operation in the area with the assistance of the local police. Senior police officials visited Pramod’s house and a police camp had been set up in the area. Also, police security has been arranged for Pramod’s family.“The Government is viewing the incident seriously,” said Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala. “I have received information on the incident and have given the required instructions,” he said adding that he had already asked for a report on the matter from the Superintendent of Police, Wayanad district.
Sources in the police said that Maoists had been emboldened to even break into a policeman’s house because of the failure of the force in adopting adequate measures at the required time even after receiving reports that the extremists had already intensified their activities in the Adivasi colonies of Vellamunda and other villages.The Kerala Police had launched several massive combing operations for Maoists among the hills and forests of northern Kerala districts of Wayanad, Kannur and Malappuram since February, 2013 following reports of communist extremists from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka sneaking into the Kerala jungles.
The Intelligence wing of the police has already confirmed that the Maoists have spread their network in many of the Adivasi colonies in Wayanad, Kannur and Malappuram districts, where socio-economic disparities were still a reality, as part of their programme to extend their activities to the Western Ghats regions.