Police have intensified their search for Maoists in Kerala and have placed those who are supporting the left extremists, including human rights activists, under their scanner.
The Internal Security Investigation and Intelligence wings of the Kerala Police are monitoring the activities of supporters of Maoists, mainly on the basis of the information being provided by the Tamil Nadu Police, who have been questioning Kerala-based Maoist leader Rupesh and his wife Shyna for the past one week.
The police have drawn up a list of those who have been supporting and helping the Maoists and have put them under watch which reportedly includes even telephone surveillance. Special focus have been put on certain rights workers who have been close to Murali Kannambally, the 63-year-old top Maoist leader arrested from a Pune suburb two days ago.
As per reports coming in from Coimbatore, where Rupesh, arrested on May 4, was being questioned, the police have found phone numbers and addresses of 180 persons on a compact disc seized from him. Of these 180 persons, 34 were from Kerala and 20 of them belonged to Kochi. These 20 people have already been put under surveillance.
The Tamil Nadu police have concluded that Rupesh had visited Kochi before the Maoist attack on the corporate office of gelatin manufacturing company Nitta Gelatin in the heart of Kochi city on November 10, 2014. They have also found that the Maoists had held a secret meeting in Kochi before the attack and that Rupesh had reached Kochi at that time.
The attack on the office of Nitta Gelatin, which was facing charges of causing large-scale industrial pollution, was the first major Maoist operation in Kerala in the recent times. Since then, Kerala had seen a minimum of nine left extremist attacks. They had also allegedly exchanged fire with Kerala Police personnel near Vellamunda in Wayanad on December 7.
Most of the recent Maoist attacks had taken place in the northern districts of State. The Kerala Police had launched a much-publicized hunt for Maoists led by the Thunderbolt commandos in the jungles of the northern districts in February, 2013. Unfortunately, all these Maoist attacks had taken place just when this hunt was continuing.
According to Tamil Nadu police, Rupesh was arrested along with wife Shyna and another Maoist, Anoop from Pathanamthitta, by the Andhra Pradesh police from a tea shop at Karumathampatty near Coimbatore. But Rupesh had claimed to the media that they were “kidnapped” by the police from Andhra Pradesh.
Indicating that the Kerala Police have been making some progress in the anti-Maoist operations in the context of the arrest of Rupesh, they arrested one of his aides, A Rajeesh of Thikkodi in Kozhikode district the other day. Rajeesh is believed to have been in charge of transportation of arms for the group of Rupesh and road travel and lodging of the Maoists.
Several Kerala-based pro-left rights workers feel that the police forces of different states have joined hands for an offensive against Maoists. “The move seems to be a well-coordinated. So many things are happening at the same time in different places. These cannot be considered as mere coincidences,” said a Kochi-based rights activist.