The Forest Department on Saturday found two bags with personal belongings and pamphlets in Tamil near the Pattakulam camp shed in the core area of the Shendurney Wildlife Sanctuary.
The combing operation launched in the wake of Maoist threat in forest areas was intensified on Friday after a man from Koraput district in Odisha was detained at the core Umayar area of the sanctuary on Wednesday.
The man identified as Srikand Pujari, 55, was arrested and is under remand.
The materials found near the Pattakulam camp shed, 32 km from Thenmala, included a cap, sari, sweater, T-shirt, and leftovers of food, sources in the Forest Department said.
The cloth bag was traced to a shop at Sivakasi. The materials were brought to the range office of the sanctuary in Thenmala by evening .
Wildlife Warden of the sanctuary R. Lakshmi told The Hindu that it was yet to be confirmed whether the materials were left behind by Pujari. The forest officials decided to obtain the custody of Pujari on Monday for interrogation and take him to the core area of the 171 sq.km sanctuary. The recovery of materials from an area inspected a couple of days back for vista clearance for facilitating wildlife sighting surprised officials. This showed that the presence of outsiders was after that, sources said.
Ms. Lakshmi said the Forest Department had decided to intensify combing operations in the sanctuary.
Wayanad Staff Reporter writes: The Western Ghats special regional committee of the CPI (Maoists) urged the government to return the alleged usurped land to tribesmen at Thirunelly in the district.
In a release circulated through news boxes of various media here on Saturday, the organisation claimed that tourism resorts, including the Tamarind Easy Hotel of the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC) and Agraharam, a private resort, were vandalised by the ‘Kabanidalam’ of the organisation as the resorts had been allegedly constructed on a tribal land after it had been usurped by the KTDC and a private individual.