COIMBATORE: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has put up posters announcing a reward of
Rs 2 lakh for information on Jayanna, the head of Kannada Dalam of the banned CPI Maoists, who was believed to be hiding out at the tri-junction forest, and his female associate Sundari. The posters have been put up in Mettupalayam and its surrounding areas.
The same announcement is being posted in Tamil in places on the border – like Velliyankadu, Pillur dam and Patti Salai in Coimbatore district and Mulli in Kerala. According to the NIA report, the two are wanted in connection with Vellamunda case (Kerala) in which alleged members/activists of CPI (Maoist), under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, formed an unlawful assembly with deadly weapons, trespassed into the house of police officer AB Pramod, trained their guns at him and threatened to kill him in 2014. They asked him to resign from the police department and set his motorcycle on fire, besides making a call for an armed revolution.
NIA said Jayanna (alias Mahesh alias John alias Marappa), originally from Raichur, and Sundari (alias Geetha alias Sindu), a native of Dakshina Kannada, are wanted in the case and a reward of Rs 2 lakh would be assured for any information regarding the two. Kerala police filed a chargesheet against four others accused in the case on January 1, 2016, while NIA has taken over further probe.
Sources said the posters were on display last year too. Now, they have been put up again on border areas with the hope that intelligence units may get alerts about their movement. Since 2010, Maoists have been trying to turn the tri-junction area into a major hub. However, their effort has been foiled by combing operations conducted by Tamil Nadu and Kerala police.