Personnel of the police and the Forest Department have intensified search operations in the Attappady forests, especially in the Kurumba settlements of Anavai, Thudukki, and Mele Thudukki, following reports of a group of eight armed persons, including a woman, being seen in the area recently.
The Agali police have filed three first information reports (FIRs) against the armed gang for threatening tribal people on complaints from them. The tribal people told the police that the gang had approached them and collected rice and other food items. The suspected Maoists had warned them against informing the police about their presence in the area.
A special team headed by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Agali, is conducting the investigation. District Superintendent of Police G. Somasekhar said the Agali police had filed three FIRs against the suspected Maoists for threatening the tribal people in the past couple of days.
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More police personnel would be deployed for the Sivarathri festival at the Malleswara temple in Attappady. The police were keeping a close watch on the pilgrimage to the Malleswara peak during the festival. The police believed that the peak could become a hideout of the Maoists, Mr. Somasekhar said.