KOCHI: The Kerala Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) on Thursday arrested a Maoist activist who had been active in the forests of Wayanad. Manoj, 26, alias Ashiq, a native of Viyyur in Thrissur, was arrested from the Ernakulam South railway station.
The police said Manoj was reported missing in February last year while pursuing research in the philosophy department of Kerala University’s (KU) Kariavattom campus in Thiruvananthapuram.
Based on his mother’s complaint filed at the Viyyur police station, a missing persons case was registered the same month and later transferred to the Kazhakoottam police station. Considering his links with Maoist groups, the ATS took over the probe.
Manoj told the ATS that he had met his friend, who stays in a flat in Kakkanad and has been identified, to seek financial help. Manoj is being interrogated at the ATS office in Nedumbassery, and will be produced in court on Friday.