Wayanad has become a safe haven for absconders from other parts of the State.
Recently, there were unconfirmed reports that Roopesh alias Praveen, who tops the list of ‘wanted Maoists’ in the state, had stayed in a rented house in Kartikulam, a sleepy town on the Mananthavady-Mysore state highway, for several months.
“In the early days, small-time criminals from across the state used to come here to lead a secret life. They used to live in the guise of manual labourer, especially in quarries located in remote areas.
Nowadays, high-profile criminals are coming here to escape from police net,” said Thomas Ambalavayal, secretary, Wayanad Prakrithi Samrakshana Samithi.
Incidentally, the district witnessed the biggest job scam in the history of the state as well as the largest financial fraud in the KSRTC till date, and the perpetrators of both scandals were outsiders.