Ramesh Chennithala has demanded a judicial inquiry into the recent encounter killing of a Maoist on the Banasura mountains under the South Wayanad forest division.
Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, he said that as past experiences had showed that magisterial enquiries into killings had come to nought, a judicial probe into the issue was the need of the hour.
Moreover, the explanation of the police about the encounter was unbelievable as local residents in the area said that it was a fake encounter, he said.
As many as eight Maoists were killed in police firing during the regime of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, he said. While the United Democratic Front government had forced the surrender of several Maoist rebels, treated them with dignity as political prisoners and convicted them through due process of law, the Left government was shooting them at sight, he alleged.
Though the Communist Party of India had criticised the approach earlier, its leader Kanam Rajendran stayed tight-lipped this time, he added.