Maoist leader K. Muralidharan, who was nabbed by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad in Pune on Saturday, has been reportedly identified as Kannampally Murali, a contemporary of P. Rajan of the erstwhile Regional Engineering College, Calicut, who was tortured and killed by the police during the nationwide Emergency in 1976.
Murali, a native of Irumpanam, Ernakulam, and the son of an illustrious IFS officer, Kannampally Karunakara Menon, was named an accused in the attack on the Kayanna police station here on February 28, 1976. All the accused in the case were set free by the court. Ex-Naxalites say the police station attack was a conspiracy hatched by the police to tarnish the image of the Naxalite movement and finish off the Naxalites.
Murali had gone underground for the past 40 years. But he had been writing articles and books under the pen name Ajith. Investigating agencies suspect that he had links with the international Maoist movement. Before joining the proscribed Communist Party of India (Maoist) he was the all-India secretary of the CPI-ML (Naxalbari).
Additional Director General of Police (North Zone) N. Shanker Reddy said the police had received information about the arrest of Murali in Pune. His background was being verified to confirm his identity, he said.
The police believed that with the merger of the CPI (ML) Naxalbari with the CPI (Maoist) in May 2014 the Naxalite movement would re-emerge in the State. Besides, some of the outfits had become active in Wayanad and Palakkad districts recently by conducting public trials.