The family of suspected Maoist A Velmurugan, who was gunned down by Kerala Police's Thunderbolt Squad in an encounter on Tuesday, has raised suspicion over the multiple bullet injuries on Velmurugan’s body. His family claim that he was killed in a fake encounter.
After identifying his brother’s body on Wednesday, A Murugan, Velmurugan’s brother, told the media that the family has filed a complaint with the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court raising suspicion that the bullet wounds on Velmurugan’s body was an indication that he was shot from close range. His family had arrived from Periyakulam in Tamil Nadu’s Theni district.
Speaking to reporters, Murugan said that the police initially showed only Velmurugan’s face and that the extent of the bullet injures was not informed to the family. The police has said that those asking to see the body of the deceased will be permitted only after the postmortem. The permission to see the body was granted by Wayanad District Collector Adeela Abdulla.
Velmurugan is a native of Periyakulam in Tamil Nadu. The encounter took place near Kattikulam, which falls within the Padinjarathara police station limits in Wayanad. The postmortem will be done only after the family sees the body at Kozhikode Medical College hospital.
The family had reached out to the Wayanad district collector and had sought permission to see and identify Velmurugan's body. Several activists as well as the opposition have alleged that it was a fake encounter by the Kerala police.
Police had claimed that Velmurigan was a wanted Maoist in Tamil Nadu. They also claimed that they did the encounter after the Maoist team opened fire.
