The Opposition in Kerala has now come out with a serious allegation that the killing of the alleged Maoists was a planned operation to divert attention from the verdict in the case of the death of two minor girls in Walayar, Palakkad.

The Thunderbolt operation which killed four people, happened in Manjikkandi, near Agaly which again is located in Palakkad.

VK Sreekantan, Palakkad MP of the Congress who visited the place, said that it can in no way be an encounter, as there were no signs of a clash and it is an attempt to divert attention.

“The police version that the Maoists had been camping there for months cannot be true as there was no camp shed found in the area and only some shed roofed with tarpaulin sheets that would have flown away even in a wind. If it was an encounter as claimed by the police, how did the bullets get lodged in the backs of the people? The area is lined with trees and not even a branch of a tree has fallen in the shooting, which would have been so in the case of an encounter.”

Sreekantan added, “Even in states where Maoists hunt happened in a more severe manner, no ban was imposed on the media. Even the tribals were allowed to enter the area by checking their identity cards. The government should either send a high-level team to the area or declare a judicial probe into the incident,” he urged.

Sreekantan also alleged that the planned encounter could be a foolish script executed by state police chief Loknath Behera whose DGP post is the reward for fake encounters executed in Gujarat when he was the director of the National Investigation Agency (NIA). “The police killed the people on the pretext of a mediation talk which also should be inquired. The killings happened in Palakkad itself and is an attempt to divert attention from the acquittal of the accused in the death of the minor girls,” he said.

Shafi Parambil MLA, representing the Palakkad constituency, said that the central leadership of the CPI(M) should make its stand clear on the issue. He also said that the UDF will intensify their protest till the two girls get justice.

CPI(M)’s largest ally CPI has also termed the killing as a fake encounter. A team of the CPI will visit the spot on Friday.