The shooting of a Maoist in Kerala’s Wayanad district has raised speculation about “encounter killings” in the Left-ruled state.

Police say that C.P. Jaleel, 30, was killed after a five-hour gunfight at a resort off the busy Kozhikode-Bangalore highway on Wednesday night.

Jaleel and another person had come to the resort demanding money and food, reports say. Unusually, he was not wearing the Maoists’ standard khaki outfit.

This is the second killing of a Maoist since the Left Front came to power in Kerala in 2016. In November that year, a central committee member of the CPI Maoist, Kuppuswamy Devaraj, and his companion Kaveri alias Ajitha were gunned down in the Nilambur forests of Malappuram district. Both belonged to the Tamil Nadu cadre.

Maoists are said to be active in Kerala’s northern districts, such as Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad and Kannur. The state police have drawn up an action plan — Operation Anaconda — for the elite Thunderbolt Force to tackle the rebels in the region.

Jaleel is the first Keralite killed in an encounter with the Thunderbolts.

The police claim to have fired in “self-defence” after the Maoists allegedly shot at the cops as soon as they reached the resort. Reports have said the companion was seriously injured.

Resort staff have contradicted the police, saying the two Maoists did not fire first or provoke the police in any way. The staff claim they had not informed the police about the “extortion” bid, either. It’s unclear how the police learnt about the Maoists’ presence at the resort.

Hours later, in the afternoon, a video clip emerged in which the resort manager was seen denying he had ever said the police started the firing. “I had only said that firing started after the arrival of police. I never said that police started the firing,” he is heard saying in the video whose source is not known.

The manager said he was at his home during the incident and blamed local media for “twisting” what he had actually said.

While Jaleel’s body was found face down inside the compound, indicating he was shot in the back while fleeing, the police have no information about the whereabouts of the injured.

Only a country-made revolver was found near the body, although the police claim the Maoists used AK-47s. The police have also been vague about the number of Maoists who had come to the resort.

With the police version of an encounter coming under stress, Jaleel’s family has sought a judicial inquiry. State police chief Loknath Behera has spoken of a magisterial-level investigation.

Kerala’s Left has been vocal against fake encounters elsewhere in the country, so the ruling party’s silence over Jaleel’s killing has baffled many. At the time of the Nilambur encounter, the state secretary of the CPI — one of the ruling partners — had questioned the police action, putting the government in a spot.

Veteran CPM leader V.S. Achuthanandan had at the time demanded action against the police if the killing turned out to have been an extra-judicial one.

No such voices have been raised from within the ruling front this time, while several party spokespersons have justified the police in channel discussions.

Adivasi leaders and activists say the Maoists have been active in the region in the recent past. The rebels have been accusing the government of apathy towards last August’s flood victims, and pasted posters against the local CPM leadership after a cooperative bank employee committed suicide.

In contrast to their comrades in Jharkhand and Maharashtra, the Maoists of Kerala are said to be not much different from the activists of other political parties. Confined mostly to organising marches and pasting anti-government posters, especially on weekly market days, the state’s Maoists have never been a threat to the people living in and around their areas of influence.

Many of those who suspect Jaleel was killed in a fake encounter are therefore wondering why the police did not just arrest the rebels.