The State government will employ the services of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) for combing operations in the forest areas of north Kerala in the wake of the encounter between a platoon of the Thunderbolts and an armed group of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) at Vellamunda in Wayanad district on Sunday.
Top sources told The Hindu on Monday that that the CRPF team would be deployed to assist the Thunderbolt commandos now involved in the operations in the Kannur-Kozhikode-Wayanad forests. “Tthe commandos have been trained in guerrilla warfare and anti-Naxal operations by the CRPF. But the assistance of Central forces would be required,” Minister for Home Ramesh Chennithala said.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (Kannur range) Dinendra Kashyap, who is overseeing the operations, said combing would be intensified in the forest in the coming days. “We have also recovered a portion of an AK-47 weighing less than 300 gm, a cap and a scarf. The group may have discarded them during exchange of fire on Sunday afternoon,” he said.
He said the suspected Maoists usually pitched their makeshift camps deep inside the forests and smaller groups occasionally moved to Adivasi settlements to obtain provisions. “The terrain is rough for movement, particularly after evening. We also have no idea whether they had planted landmines,” he said.
Mr. Kashyap said the police had got information that a woman at Kuttiyadi in Kozhikode district had heard gunshots on Monday. “But this was being verified independently,” he said.
