Security personnel including the State’s elite Thunderbolts commandos and the local police are on high alert in the rural areas of Kozhikode in the wake of noticing suspected Maoist posters exhorting the public to get prepared for an armed insurgence against the proposed buffer zone along wildlife sanctuaries.
The posters that were spotted by local residents at Thazhathangadi near Pasukkadavu in Kuttiyadi on Saturday were allegedly pasted in the name of the Banasura area committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation.
There were about 10 posters that were found affixed on the walls of a local tea shop. The posters that criticised the buffer zone regulations hailed the local farmers who protested against the latest Supreme Court order on the issue.
It was the second time that the area was put under close surveillance after noticing the suspected presence and rural campaign of Maoists. A couple of months ago, there were suspicious incidents in which the suspected Maoist functionaries visited the rural area for collecting essentials such as rice and other food items from various households. There were also attempts to circulate notices against the government policies, police sources said.
The police said that they were having some solid evidence to trace the source of the posters and those who worked behind it. “We have already registered a case as part of the investigation into the incident. A Maoist functionary from Wayanad and another man who was recently held in connection with a murder case are the main suspects in the case,” they said.