Lack of security at camp made things easy for police

KOZHIKODE: It was the arrest of Maoist cadre Chinna Ramesh- a member of Western Ghats special zonal committee of CPI (Maoist) by the Karnataka police a few months ago - that provided intelligence agencies the whereabouts of leaders Kuppu Devaraj and Ajitha.
Ramesh had told the interrogators that Kuppu and Ajitha were moving with the Nadukani dalam of the Maoists in Nilambur. He also told that Maoists had organized a camp on Nilambur for fifteen days in May, 2016 in which arms training was imparted by Deepak and Sharmila, Maoist leaders from Dandakaranya.
Ramesh said that he had met Kuppu in Malappuram with the help a few Maoists, who were acting as couriers for the leader.These inputs were vital for the police to track down the Maoist central committee member.
The information that Kuppu was on medication for diabetes, which seriously impaired his movements, was crucial for the police operation inside the Nilambur forests last Thursday.
The mistakes committed by the Maoists made things easy for the police. A permanent camp like the one set up at Varamala in Nilambur should have had security measures such as planting of mines around the camp. The fact that the Thunderbolt had reached 50 metres close to the camp shows the laxity on the part of the Maoists to ensure security cover.
The camp was just four kilometres from the motorable road which is accessible to police after two hours of walk through the forest. Usually the central technical committee (CTC) of the Maoists are involved in deciding the location for camp. It is not clear as to why the CTC gave permission for a camp that too for an important central committee member like Kuppu at a precarious location.
Documents accessed by TOI show that Kuppu was trained under LTTE in guerrilla warfare while he was with the Peoples War Group (PWG). He was the leader of the 'money action' in 1988 in which Rs 65 lakh was looted from a bank at Madurai.