Long absconding Naxal leader from Kerala held in Pune

A top Maoist leader from Kerala Murali Kannampilly, wanted in connection with several cases and absconding for nearly four decades, has been arrested by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) from here.
Murali (62), a native of Ernakulam district in Kerala who has been active in the ultra left movement in different parts of the country, was arrested last night from here along with 29-year-old Ismail CP, also from the southern state.
They were produced before a court which remanded them in police custody for seven days, ATS officials said today.
They had been residing at Talegaon Dabhade area of the city, said Bhanupratap Barge, an officer with ATS Pune unit.

The duo has been booked under relevant sections of IPC and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
A top leader of CPI(Maoist), Murali has been active in ultra left movement since the Emergency period in 1975-77. He discontinued his studies in Regional Engineering College, Kozhikode, in mid-1970s to become active in Naxal movement.

In his campus days, he was associated with P Rajan, an engineering student who died allegedly due to torture in a police camp at Kakkayam near Kozhikode during the Emergency days.
The Rajan case had triggered a storm in Kerala politics in the post-Emergency days, leading to the resignation of Congress veteran K Karunakaran as Chief Minister in 1977 in the wake of a habeas corpus petition filed by the victim's father.

Murali, an accused in Kayanna police station attack case in Kerala, has penned a large number of Naxalite pamphlets using his pseudonym Ajit.