THRISSUR: The police on Thursday cremated the body of slain Maoist Rema, aka Ajitha, at the Guruvayur municipality crematorium as nobody had come forward to claim the body despite giving advertisements in newspapers. Rema was among the four Maoists killed in the encounter with Thunderbolt personnel in Manjikandy forest at Attappadi in Palakkad district on October 28 and 29. The police decided to cremate Rema’s body at the Guruvayur municipality crematorium after human right activist A Vasu pleaded with the district collector to permit them either to cremate the body or pay last respects before cremation.
Considering the petition, a group of human rights activists including Vasu and Shina were allowed pay their last respects to the slain woman. They raised slogans commending the works of the four deceased.
The activists alleged that the police had not acted according to the law as Rema was identified by her mother in Kanyakumari. “Rema’s mother had told the police that she was not in a situation to bear the travel expenses. Thus, the police obtained a no-claim letter following which the body was cremated,” added an activist.
As per the police, the slain Maoists were Manivasakam, Karthi, Sreenivasan aka Aravind, and Rema. While the relatives of Manivasakam and Karthi were able to identify the bodies, the family of Sreenivasan had doubts though they had identified him from the photo taken soon after the killing that the police showed them. To confirm the identity, their blood samples have been sent for DNA tests and the result is awaited. It has been almost three weeks since the incident happened. Since the bodies had already started
decaying, it was difficult for the families to identify the deceased with all the wounds on the bodies.