A bank manager’s car was set ablaze by some miscreants at Kallumukku, near Cheeral, on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border on Monday night.
The car, owned by Thazhathoor Bhaskaran, manager of the Kalpetta branch of Kerala Gramin Bank, was parked on the premises of his house and the miscreants threw kerosene-soaked jute bag and torched it around 11.30 p.m.
When Mr. Bhaskaran opened the door of the house after a hearing loud noise, the anti-social elements escaped on a motorbike, the Sulthan Bathery police said.
Later the family members doused the fire, the police added. The bonnet of the car was damaged in the incident.
The miscreants pasted two posters on the walls near the gate of the house asking banks to stop anti-farmer policies and end police support to banks.
Though the posters were on behalf of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), the police were yet to confirm whether the incident was a Maoist attack.
When Mr. Bhaskaran was working as the manager of the Irulam branch of the bank a few months ago, he had initiated revenue recovery measures against a farmer there. The farmer had been imprisoned in a case relating to default on repayment of loan.
Special Correspondent writes from Kozhikode: Additional Director General of Police (north zone) Nitin Agarwal said that the police were still carrying out the investigation to ascertain whether the incident was actually case of Maoist attack.
A case was registered at the Sulthan Bathery station. Meanwhile the Wayanad police have stepped up security in the region in the wake of the attack.
A dog squad, scientific experts and members of the fingerprint bureau visited and collected samples from the site, the police said.
The tri-junction bordering Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu under the Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary has been a safe haven for CPI(Maoist). Earlier armed cadres had been sighted in this region and villagers had reported many of them visiting their hamlets.
Exchange of fire had also occurred between the elite Thunderbolt commandos and Maoists in the forests on several occasions.
