Kerala Timeline 2009

Date

Incidents

February 20

The State intelligence sources reported that in the backdrop of the launching of security operations to flush out left-wing extremists from Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh, the extremists have penetrated into the rural areas of Kerala in the guise of small time labourers. According to the sources, the decision of the Union Minister for Home Affairs, P. Chidambaram, to carry out a single joint operation to flush out the extremists had forced them to take refuge in the neighbouring States like Kerala. "Earlier, Naxal activities had been reported in the thick forests of the Western Ghats bordering Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. But with the Police intensifying combing and monitoring in these parts, the Naxals have started to settle in labour-intensive rural areas in the State," said an official of the State intelligence. Sources said that there were reports that Kunnathunadu taluk in the Ernakulam District had been attracting the insurgents as a perfect hideout because of the huge number of sawmills and quarries.

Police neutralized a major arms racket linked to secessionists and left-wing extremists in Nagaland and Orissa and arrested three persons belonging to Orissa in Ernakulam District. The accused were arrested while purchasing guns from an armoury in the city using fake licence, purchase permit and No Objection Certificate, purported to have been issued by the Government of Nagaland. The three were identified as Rathiranjan Parida, Bipin Bihari Behra and Biranji Narayan Behra. They had moved over 20 guns in this manner during the last one year, said P.M. Varghese, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Ernakulam.

Police arrested Sinoj alias Ramesan, a cadre of the Revolutionary Peoples Front (RPF), a frontal organisation of the CPI-Maoist, from the Chekadi colony at Pulpally in Wayanad District. The Police also recovered three propaganda CDs, a booklet on Lalgarh and some literature related to Maoists in Nepal. Sinoj was produced in the Judicial First Class Magistrate's court at Sulthan Batheri which remanded him in judicial custody. Sinoj, who hails from Talikkulam in the Thrissur District, was arrested from a tribal colony following a tip-off. The colony was reportedly under Police watch for sometime following information that Maoists were 'concentrating' on the area.

The Crime Branch of the Kerala Police believes that extremist outfits affiliated to the CPI-Maoist are carrying out clandestine operations in the tribal colonies of Wayanad District. A senior officer said that the Police were keeping a close watch on several tribal colonies based on intelligence inputs on activities of those organisations banned in the State. Recently, the Crime Branch arrested V.S. Sinoj (32), of Vadanappally in Thrissur District, from a tribal colony in Wayanad District on charges of attempting to propagate Maoist ideology among tribals and distribute material propagating the cause of the Maoist movement at Lalgarh and Nandigram in West Bengal. Based on a tip off, Sinoj was arrested from the Chekkadi colony at Pullppally on July 11. He was a State leader of the Revolutionary Peoples Front, which is affiliated to the CPI-Maoist. He had also admitted during interrogation that he had arrived in Wayanad District to spread Maoist ideology among the tribal population.