KOZHIKODE: The mystery surrounding the alleged police encounter in which Jaleel was killed took a new turn on Friday morning with the resort employees coming out with conflicting statements about the incident. A section of local television channels reported the employees rejected the cops’ statement that Maoists opened fire first and the cops fired in retaliation.
However, this, too, was contradicted immediately. K T Renjith, the manager of Upavan Resort where the gunfight took place, told Express a section of the media twisted his statement. “I was away from the resort when the gunfight took place and came to know of it only from other employees. I never said the police opened fire.I said the gunfight started after the police reached the spot,” Renjith said.
The police said they found Jaleel’s body lying face down in the resort’s premises. The inquest by the cops found the bullets had hit him from behind. A country-made gun and eight shells were also recovered from near his body. On Thursday, IG (Kannur range) Balram Kumar Upadhyay had said the Maoists had opened fire. “Though we asked them to surrender, they continued shooting which led to the gunfight,,” Upadhyay had told media persons.