'Kuppu was planning an all-out attack'

MALAPPURAM: Kuppu Devaraj, who was killed in the encounter with special police squad inside Karulayi forest region, was coordinating a major operation to launch an all-out attack in Nilambur region during the first week of December, said police.
The Maoists were planning an armed attack jointly by Kabani, Bhavani, Nadukani and Shiruvani Dalams (branch committees) of the Western Ghats South Zonal Committee (WGSZC) of the banned CPI (Maoist) and Devaraj, who is one of the major arms trainer among the party cadres, was camping in the region for last six months to coordinate the activities for the operation.An arms training camp of Maoists was going on in Nilambur forest region for last several months, said police.
According to police, Devaraj is an accused in several cases registered across the country, including cases related to the attack on police and military forces. The first case was registered related to a bank robbery in Madhurai in 1988 and a case has been registered in Annamalai police station under section 397 IPC and 25(1) of Arms Act against Devaraj. He is also accused in the attack on a police picket post in Karnataka in 1998, Dhanbad railway station attack in Bihar in 1992, attack on Topchanchi police camp near Dhanbad in Jharkhand in which 13 police personnel were killed, Madhuban attack in Bihar in 2004, attack on a bank in Chotanagpur and murder of an MP in 2003, attack on CRPF camp in Jumra Jharkhand and attack on Khaira police station in Lakhisarai district of Bihar. He was the master-brain behind the operation against the anti-naxal squad at Balimala in Andhra-Odisha border in 2004 in which 28 squad members were killed, and the landmine attack against former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Chandrababu Naidu in October, 2003.