A group of armed people suspected to be Maoists, were again sighted at Kambamala, near Thalappuzha, in Wayanad district on Wednesday evening.
As many as five armed people entered the estate lane around 6.30 p.m. and they reportedly destroyed a surveillance camera installed by the police to monitor the movements of the proscribed militant group.
The police had installed the camera a week ago after a six-member team of militants vandalised the office of the Kerala Forest Development Corporation (KFDC) at Kambamala.
Some of the estate workers found the armed group near the estate lane when some women workers informed them that they heard some noise.
The workers protested and told the suspected Maoists that their recurring presence had destroyed the tranquillity of the human habitat.
The group distributed pamphlets among the workers and retreated to the nearby forest, residents of the area said.
In the pamphlet, issued on behalf of the Kabani area committee, the suspected Maoists justified their attack on the KFDC office on September 28.
It said that while the workers living under asbestos-thatched estate lanes died of cancer, the organisation would not allow the officials to live in bungalows. It termed the deaths of workers as a massacre by the estate officials.
An armed group had visited two houses at Poyil near, Kmabamala, on Sunday and left the place after collecting rice, sugar and tea powder from them. The police attached to the Thalappuzha and Mananthavady stations as well as the elite commandos of the police force, “Thunderbolt”, conducted a quick search in the area.
The Kambamala tea estate, bordering Kottiyoor and Periya forest ranges in Wayanad and Kannur districts respectively, was established in the 1970s to rehabilitate repatriates from Sri Lanka. More than 200 families are staying on the estate.
