Four Maoists, including a self-styled leader Manivasagam, were killed in Palakkad forests on October 28 in an encounter with commandos of the Kerala Police. Relatives of Manivasagam and Karthi approached the court saying the police were in hurry to cremate the bodies after several allegations of fake encounter surfaced. After allegations of fake encounter, the police had released a video of the gunfight but that drew even more flak. As the “fake encounter theory” continued to swirl, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reiterated that police retaliated when they were ambushed by Maoists. After the LDF government came to power in 2016, seven Maoists were killed in the state that year.

Source: Hindustan Times November 05, 2019 14:37 UTC