No clue on Maoist team, says SP

Kodagu Superintendent of Police Dr Suman D Pennekar has denied reports of a Maoist team appearing in Yavakapadi village in Napoklu police station limits on Thursday.

The district police had conducted a combing operation, following a tip-off from the local residents, but no naxal movement has been traced.

Unconfirmed reports had been doing the rounds that two Naxalites had collected food items from two houses in Yavakapadi village and had snatched a mobile phone from a woman.

The rumour created panic in the villages located on the fringes of the forest. It was also suspected that the team of Maoists had shifted base to Kerala.

But the photographs of the suspected Naxalites did not match with the identity of those who had snatched the mobile phone from the woman. The phone-snatchers had come in normal attire and did not have any weapons. The mobile phone was found 80 km away from the house. The Anti-Naxal Force, however, continued to comb the forests, the SP added.