Kerala HC directs police to conduct probe into killing of two suspected Maoists

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday directed the police to conduct a probe into the circumstances leading to the killing of two suspected Maoists in an alleged encounter in Agali forests of Palakkad district last month.

It also gave a direction to ascertain whether the officers who took part in the alleged encounter had committed any offence.

Justice R Narayana Pisharadi, however, made it clear that the court has not even remotely expressed any view with regard to the circumstances under which or the manner in which the death of the two occurred. He also allowed the state authorities to cremate the two as per prevailing rules and norms.

The order was passed while disposing of a plea by the relatives of the duo, challenging a sessions court order permitting cremation as per rules and seeking investigation into their deaths.

Whatever be the penal and other provisions mentioned in the FIRs, the circumstances under which the killings of Karthik alias Kannan and Manivasakam had occurred and the cause of their death shall be investigated, the judge said.