The police have invoked Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against five persons on Sunday for their alleged role in the Maoist attack on police personnel near Kadugumanna tribal hamlet deep inside the Silent Valley National Park on Saturday. The Home Department is considering the possibility of handing over the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
According to police sources, UAPA was invoked against one Soman from Wayanad, Ayyappan from Attappady and three others, including a woman.
Combing operations gain tempo
Meanwhile, combing operations are fast progressing in Attappady and Silent Valley regions to find the alleged Maoists who opened fire on police officials, who raided Kadugumanna region following a tip-off on Saturday.
The police said Ayyappan was active with Maoist operations for the last four months and had direct contacts with Roopesh, the top Maoist leader arrested recently. The Agali Dy.SP will lead the investigation till the NIA takes over the case.
Combing operations are now focussed mainly on Kurumba tribal settlements deep in the Attappady forests. Search is also on in Anaikatty and Karamadai regions of Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu and different parts of Wayanad.
On Saturday, the Home Department claimed that a team of police officials from Attappady and a five-member gang of suspected Maoists exchanged fire deep in the forests bordering the Kadukumanna tribal hamlet in the Silent Valley forests, about 15 km from Mukkali.
Agali Circle Inspector K.J. Devasya and Sub-Inspector Boban Mathew led a team of 30 officials for the combing operation following information that Maoists were camping in the Silent Valley forests bordering Attappady. The team included the Thunderbolt police wing formed exclusively to deal with Maoists.
None of the police officers involved in the operation was injured in the incident. Though the police said they were not able to arrest any Maoist, they claimed that two of the Maoists sustained injuries in the exchange of fire.
3 bags of pamphlets
The police recovered three bags containing Maoist pamphlets from the area. Eleven months ago, a forest range office was vandalised and a department jeep gutted in an alleged Maoist attack at Mukkali in the buffer zone of the Silent Valley National Park.
