less than a week left for the Assembly election, some purported Maoists have allegedly pasted posters at Someshwar in Almora district, asking the people to boycott the election. Such posters found on the walls of Government Inter College and Brikeshwar Vidya Mandir at Chunota have left the police alarmed.
Such incidence repeatedly in the mountainous areas of Kumaon, police are still clueless as to the identity of the persons involved. No arrest has been made so far in this case.
Earlier on February 2, some purported Maoists based in Dhari tehsil area of Nainital district had allegedly torched a vehicle in the Tehsil campus. Besides, posters instigating the people to stay away from the democratic engagement had been found from areas in Nainital district. A few hours after the posters were found in on the walls of the educational institutions at Someshwar, the Almora superintendent of police, Dilip Singh Kunwar said that local police was investigating the case with an FIR also being registered against unidentified persons in Chunota police station.
The Kumaon deputy inspector general of police, Ajay Rautela said that local police and intelligence staff have been put on alert following the incident. Significantly, the hand writing of the content found on the posters both at Dhari in Naintial district and at Chunota in Almora district seemed to be similar, he said, pointing out that the same group of persons might have been behind both the incidents.
Observers say that cases of Maoists pasting posters appealing to the people to boycott the election surfacing ahead of the election have exposed the intelligence failure to identify those
“The state sharing borders with Uttar Pradesh, which is on the red list, and Nepal, which is one of the hubs left extremism, requires more action on the part of police and the intelligence staff” an observer said.
It will be recalled that in 2005, the state police had discovered a Maoist training camp in the forest areas of lalkuan in Nainital district.