Police capture two ‘Maoists’ after gun battle in Wayanad

A Kerala Police Thunderbolts special forces team engaged suspected Maoists in a pitched gun battle at a relatively forested locality at Thalappuzha, near Periya, in Wayanad district late Tuesday.

The police said there were no reports of causalities on both sides so far. However, the firefight occurred in a thick undergrowth. The Thunderbolts reportedly resorted to cover fire after they “came under attack” from the armed irregulars.

Officials said the Thunderbolts team “captured” two armed irregulars. The police identified them as Chandru and Unnimaya, both allegedly top cadres of the Bansura Dalam of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The special forces confiscated one AK-47 assault rifle and two country-made breach-loading shotguns from the suspects.

An official said the information trickling out from the engagement zone was sketchy. Wireless and mobile phone coverage in the locality was patchy. Top officers said they had deployed the special forces in the region to pre-empt operational space for the “armed insurgents”.

Domination exercise

A senior officer said the police had deployed the Thunderbolts in an area domination exercise after local people reported the presence of armed non-state actors in Kambala and nearby regions. The police had deployed a helicopter and drones to conduct an aerial survey of the locality in id October. They said the alleged Maoists sourced provisions from a tea-estate settlement in the locality.

Subsequently, the police tentatively identified the group as members of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) Kabani area committee. The police suspect that some armed irregulars had managed to break the siege and flee in the cover of relative darkness. They have heightened vigil in Lakkdi, Nilambur, Nadukani Churam, Thamassrasery and Meppadi localities.

Plainclothes officers were combing local hospitals and clinics to check for any injury admissions. They were also surveiling alleged urban supporters and suspected safe houses of Maoists in north Kerala.

The Maoist activity in Wayanad had reportedly increased after a hiatus of two years. In 2019, a Kerala Police Thunderbolts squad shot dead a suspected Maoist, C.P. Jaleel, a resident of Pandikkadu in Malappuram, in a suspected encounter near a resort in the Lakkidi forests.