With Maoists being sighted again in Wayanad, the police and the district administration may face a big headache in the days to come.
Seven persons, including a woman, reached the house of Appachan, a farmer at Mundakkai, near Mepadi, around 6.15 p.m. on Saturday, introducing themselves as Maoists.
They requested rice and other groceries and collected nearly 2.5 kg of the grain and disbursed pamphlets on Maoists ideals to the family members.
Later, a 12-member team of the same group looted nearly 50 kg of rice and other provisions, such as cooking oil, sugar and vegetables, from a nearby tea estate office around 7 p.m., the police said.
Though a team, led by S .Prabhakaran, Deputy Superintendent of Police, Kalpetta sub-division, made a search at night, they could not trace anyone, District Police Chief K.K. Balachandran told The Hindu .
A platoon of Thunderbolts commandos reached the district on Sunday and searched the periphery of the forests. The combing operations would be intensified on Monday after a joint meeting of the forces, Mr. Balachandran said.
The pamphlets, published on behalf of the Communist Party of India (Maoists) Western Ghats committee, asked the public to support the Maoists who had been struggling for a new India and be ready to support their revolt, Muhammed Sherief, Circle Inspector of Police, Kalpetta, said.
This was the seventh such an incident reported in the district since February 15. The police had identified the presence of militants in four of the incidents from evidence collected from the public.
It was also reported that a similar group of militants visited the Karimkannikunnu Kattunayakka colony, an isolated tribal colony on the banks of the Banasurasagar dam, near Thariyode ,a few weeks ago and distributed pamphlets to the members of the colony after collecting food materials.
District Collector K.G. Raju said the district administration had been prepared to meet any kind of threat from the Maoists.
