THRISSUR: As the police are planning to bury the bodies of two Maoists —Sreenivasan and Rema aka Ajitha—who were killed in an encounter at Manjakkandi in Palakkad district last month, human rights activist A Vasu has sought permission from District Collector S Shanavas to cremate the bodies. The police had published an advertisement in Tamil dailies on November 15, indicating that two bodies were yet to be identified and they would be buried if nobody came to claim them within 24 hours. Submitting a petition with the collector on Saturday, seeking permission to cremate the bodies, Vasu alleged that the police did not treat the bodies with respect.
“Relatives of Sreenivasan had identified him, but a DNA test result is pending to confirm it. Rema’s mother had asked the police to bring the body to their village in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu as they couldn’t afford to travel all the way to Thrissur and claim it. But the police are in a hurry to bury them,” said Vasu. It is also reported that the body of Karthi, another Maoist who was gunned down at Manjakkandi, was cremated in Coimbatore on November 13, while it was first told that the cremation would be in Trichy. As per sources, the police are in a hurry to bury the two bodies as they have started decaying.
The encounter happened on October 28 and 29 and four Maoists were killed. The body of Manivasakam, another Maoist who was killed, was cremated.