Kerala government should come clean on Maoist’s killing: Congress

Kozhikode, March 8 (IANS) The Kerala government should come clean on the killing of a Maoist at a resort, the Congress said on Friday. The remark by Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala came a day after the Maoist, identified as C.P. Jaleel, was killed in an “encounter” at the resort in Wayanad by the Kerala Police’s Thunderbolt team formed to tackle the rebels.

“When we ruled Kerala, we arrested three Maoists and produced them in a court but never engaged in shooting them down,” Chennithala told the media here.

According to a preliminary probe, Jaleel received three bullet injuries. On Friday, an employee of the resort contradicted senior Kerala Police Officer Balram Kumar Upadhyaya’s claim of Thursday that the victim and three other Maoists had opened fire at the police first.

“They (Maoists) behaved with us very well and we do not know how the police reached here,” said another employee. Meanwhile, Jaleel’s brother C.P. Rasheed said the “encounter” was fake.

“We will seek legal recourse to this shooting. Representatives from human rights organisations are expected look into what happened. We want the truth to come out,” he added.

–IANS
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