ATTAPADY: CPI Assistant secretary Prakash Babu, who had visited the spot at Attapady where Maoists were killed by Thunderbolt commandos, has said it was an orchestrated fake encounter and the Maoists were shot dead when they were eating food. This was evident as leftovers of food was there in the spot.

A team of CPI leaders had also accompanied Prakash Babu to Attapady. He said the party will discuss the issue and decide on future course of action.

Prakash Babu alleged that a cinema script writer working on a police story would have created the encounter scene in a much better way.

“There was no signs of an encounter on the spot. The main doubt arises from the fact that no policeman was injured in the encounter.

The slain Maoists were ready to surrender. They were not all a threat to forest dwellers. They never told Adivasi people to take up arms or part with their possessions including domesticated animals.

Maoists in Kerala have not attacked government officials or an ordinary police man to stele scores,” Prakash said. The CPI leader also criticized Thunderbolt, saying there was no use of such a unit in Kerala. They were only a financial liability for the government and actually, it was they who terrorised Adivasi people in the forests.

Prakash said the video released by the police, saying it was Maoists who had opened firing, is fake. Why didn’t they take shots of Maoists from a distance, if it was they who had started the firing?

All the Maoists who were killed were persons who even didn’t have the strength to literally stand on their own legs. Both legs of one of the bodies had been fractured. We suspect police’ hand in this. The police had utterly failed in handling the situation,” he said.

Prakash Babu said the report would be handed over to CPI State executive, which will eventually be submitted to the government.