HC directs police to probe suspected Maoist's killing

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the police to conduct a probe into the circumstances leading to the killing of two suspected Maoists in an alleged encounter in Agali forests of Palakkad district last month.

It also gave a direction to ascertain whether the officers who took part in the alleged encounter had committed any offense.

Justice R Narayana Pisharadi, however, made it clear that the court has not even remotely expressed any view with regard to the circumstances under which or the manner in which the death of the two occurred.

He also allowed the state authorities to cremate the two as per prevailing rules and norms.

The order was passed while disposing of a plea by the relatives of the duo, challenging a sessions court order permitting cremation as per rules and seeking investigation into their deaths. Whatever be the penal and other provisions mentioned in the FIRs, the circumstances under which the killings of Karthik alias Kannan and Manivasakam had occurred and the cause of their death shall be investigated, the judge said. He also ordered the investigating officer to seize the firearms used by police officers during the encounter and take steps for sending them for forensic and ballistic analysis.

Fingerprints of the deceased, if not already taken and preserved properly, shall be taken immediately by an appropriate method, before cremation of the bodies, the Court said.

It also said a report of compliance shall be sent to the Sessions Court in Palakkad, without any delay.

The high court further said if the petitioners were not satisfied or aggrieved at a later stage regarding the investigation, they were at liberty to approach the lower court for appropriate relief at that stage.

Noting that there was no necessity to further preserve the bodies of the slain Maoists, the Court said it has already found that postmortem reports contain necessary details with regard to the injuries sustained by them.

It then vacated the interim order passed on November 5, restraining the state from cremating the bodies of Karthik and Manivasakam.

The Court, on November 5, had directed the state government to preserve until further orders the bodies of the two after their kin filed a plea against a lower court order permitting their cremation. The Sessions Court in Palakkad had disposed of the matter on November 4, after finding that there was no lapse on the part of the police and none of the specific guidelines of the Apex Court were ignored or flouted. Four Maoists-- Karthi, Rema, Aravind, and Manivasagan-- were killed allegedly in an exchange of fire started by ultras during a police combing operation in Palakkad district on October 28 and 29.