KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over a probe into the attack at the Kerala Forest Development Corporation office (KFDC) by the CPI (Maoist) group in Wayanad last year. The NIA has recently submitted the re-registered FIR of the case at the NIA court in Kochi.
It was on September 28, 2023, when a six-member group holding guns had barged into the office of KFDC and threatened manager Badursha Noushad. The accused persons said that they reached the office to discuss issues faced by the employees.
Later, they ransacked his office and damaged the surrounding equipments using an iron rod. After that they stuck Maoist posters up on the office walls. Before leaving the office, the accused persons demanded Badursha to take pictures of the posters and send them to six phone numbers.
On October 7, the Ministry of Home Affairs ordered the NIA to take over the investigation. The direction was given to NIA considering the scheduled offences committed and the gravity of the case. NIA was directed to unearth a larger conspiracy behind the incident.
The offences charged against the accused persons are under IPC Sections 143, 144, 147, 148, 149, 342, 353, 448, 121; Arms Act, section 7; Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, section 3 (1); and Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), section 16, 20, and 38.
"The attack was carried out by Kabani Dalam of Maoist group. Already two accused persons in the case were arrested in other Maoist cases. We will approach the court and interrogate them soon. Their arrest in the case has to be recorded. We have multiple cases against the same group. All these cases are interlinked," an NIA source said.
As per the NIA FIR, the accused persons are three Thalappuzha natives Moideen, Santhosh, Manoj and three other identifiable persons. Of this Moideen and Manoj were already arrested by Kerala ATS in other Maoist cases. Police also suspect the involvement of another arrested Maoist leader Soman in the case.
Earlier, this year the national agency had taken over the probe into a shoot out between Maoist groups and Kerala Police's Thunderbolt personnel at Wayanad's Periya village. The Maoist movement lost its steam in Kerala after a majority of its active members were arrested or killed in police operations.