Magisterial probe ordered into Maoist killing

Thiruvananthapuram: As the police department is facing severe criticism over the killing of a Maoist leader at Vythiri in Wayanad on March 6, the state government has ordered a magisterial-level inquiry to probe into the reasons that led to the killing.
As per the order issued by additional chief secretary Subrata Biswas, the government has ordered the magisterial inquiry based on DGP Loknath Behera’s recommendation. “As per the Section 176 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the government has decided to go for a magisterial probe into the firing between the police thunderbolt team and the Maoists at Upavan Resort in Lakkidi near Vythiri on March 6,’’ said the order.

On March 6, a group of Maoists and police thunderbolt team exchanged fire after the Maoists reached a private resort and demanded food and money. In the shootout, Maoist leader C P Jaleel had died. However, police could not nab the other members of the group.

But soon after the killing, human rights activists including the family members of Jaleel had demanded an investigation into the killing.

The activists had claimed that it was ‘fake’ encounter like the one in Nilambur forest where Kuppu Devaraj, a senior member of the central committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist), and Ajitha, a woman leader of the group’s Karnataka wing, were killed in an encounter with the police on November 24, 2016.