KOCHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which is on the hunt for the third accused in the Kozhikode Maoist case for possessing Left extremist literature, will soon issue a ‘lookout notice’ for him.
C P Usman, 40, a resident of Chembarasseri, Pandikkad, in Malappuram district, who is arraigned as the third accused in the case, is on the run while the two co-accused Alan Shuhaib and Thwaha Fasal were arrested from Kozhikode in November last year.
The national agency had approached the NIA Court to issue an open-ended non-bailable arrest warrant against Usman. As requested, the NIA Court issued an open-ended non-bailable arrest warrant against him.
“Open-ended warrants do not have an expiry date. The warrant is required for the agency to issue a look-out notice against the accused. The look-out notice will be issued this week itself. This will help trace the accused with the help of other agencies,” sources said.
Though Usman was with Alan and Thwaha when the police intercepted them, he managed to escape. NIA sources said that Usman is an active Maoist member. He is accused in numerous Maoist cases registered in Kerala.
“The agencies suspect that he is still in India. However, once the look-out notice is issued, he can be traced while crossing any exit points of the country,” sources said.
On November 1 last year, a police patrolling team had found three youths at Peruman Perummal in Kozhikode around 6.45 pm under suspicious circumstances.
After the arrest of Alan and Thwaha, NIA took over the probe from Kerala Police. The probe by the national agency revealed that the accused were members of CPI(Maoist). They had held two meetings in Kozhikode earlier and were arrested during the third meeting.
Some of the documents seized from their possession was similar to those recovered from the members of the People Liberation Guerilla Army of CPI who died in an encounter at Manjakandi in October last year.