A dossier compiled by the police on Kuppusamy Murthy, alias Kuppu Devarajan, the top CPI(Maoist) leader killed by the police in an alleged encounter inside the Nilambur forests on November 24, shows that Kuppu was trained in arms handling by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during the late 1980s.
The dossier ( The Hindu has a copy of it) has been compiled in the wake of the controversy triggered by the killing and is meant for being produced before any probe authority. It says Kuppu, the son of an ex-serviceman, has twelve aliases apart from Devarajan. The 6-foot-tall Maoist leader is a graduate and began his career with L&T Bangalore.
He was sacked by the company in 1982 for “anti-management activities.” He became an underground cadre 1984 along with Karnataka-based Maoists Gangadhar Kuppuswamy and Ujjini Gowda who are now lodged in Bellary jail. Kuppu is a polit bureau member of the CPI(Maoist) and plays a key role in the “production department” of the Central Military Commission of the party.
ADVERTISEMENT
The dossier says that at the time of his death, Kuppu was serving as the secretary of CPI(Maoist) south west region bureau in charge of Tamil Nadu and Kerala under the organisational address “Western Ghats Special Zone.” Though wanted by the police since 1984 he was not arrested. The dossier says he is wanted in three murder cases and at least eight attempt-to-murder cases.
Sensational cases in which Kuppu is allegedly involved include the October 2001 Topchanchi police camp attack in which 13 officers of the Jharkhand Military Police were killed, the February 2007 Khaira police camp attack in Bihar in which four police officers were killed and the August 6, 1988 heist of the Madruai Anna Nagar branch of the Bank of Madura in which Rs.63 lakh from the strong room was stolen, says the dossier.
The dossier says Kuppu’s capture, dead or alive, carried a cash reward of Rs.12 lakh declared by the Andhra Pradesh government and also Rs.2 lakh cash reward by the Tamil Nadu government. “There are other rewards in Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand (but needs confirmation)”. He married Ganjendri, who used to be an employee of the erstwhile Post and Telegraph Department. They have two daughters and a son.
ADVERTISEMENT
The dossier concludes with the statement that “while a (Kerala) police party with Thunderbolt commandos were engaged in surveillance along the dense forests at Uppilappara in Padukka Forest Division, a team of armed Maoists wearing military attire fired at the police party. The police party retaliated and in this incident two Maoists including a woman succumbed due to grievous fire injuries. The deceased persons are Kuppu Devarajan and Ajitha.”