A Maoist leader who had allegedly entered a resort in Kerala’s Wayanad, a forested tourist spot known for its plantations, demanding food and money was gunned down by police’s anti-insurgency team on Wednesday night, with pictures beamed on television showing his body lying in the dry urn of a fountain.

C.P. Jaleel, 40, was a wanted leader of a crop of Maoist activists under the banner “Kabini Nadukani Dalam”, an armed unit that had allegedly been terrorising local villagers.

According to the police, at least two Maoists, including Jaleel, had barged into Upavan Resort and Spa in Lakkidi, Wayanad, around 8.30pm on Wednesday seeking money and food for 10 people.

A team of the elite Thunderbolt commando force of the state police rushed to the spot after being informed by a worker from the resort, nestled in forests along the highway that leads to Kozhikode.

Inspector-general of police Balram Kumar Upadhyay said the Maoists had started the gun battle.

“Our commandos found the Maoists exiting the holiday resort. On seeing the forces, they started firing,” Upadhyay told reporters in Wayanad on Thursday.

The officer said the commandos had been stationed nearby as part of Operation Anaconda, an anti-Maoist drive. “We could rush to the spot as soon as they informed us,” he said.

Upadhyay said Jaleel’s accomplice was also shot at, but he escaped. Pictures beamed on Malayalam channels showed Jaleel lying face down in the waterless urn of the fountain at the resort. A country-made gun and a bag were seen next to the body.

The police believe that while the two Maoist leaders had entered the resort, at least eight others had been lurking nearby and escaped when the forces arrived.

In another photograph, Jaleel and another young man wearing a balaclava could be seen.

Jaleel’s brothers raised suspicion about the operation and demanded a judicial inquiry in letters to the Wayanad police chief and the district collector.

“We don’t know what really happened. We are just ordinary people with no sixth sense to understand all this. So we demand a judicial inquiry into the incident,” Jaleel’s youngest brother C.P. Jishad told reporters at his home in Malappuram.

“We don’t think this was a proper procedure,” Jishad said, referring to the encounter.

What raised the suspicion of the family was that it was not informed officially about Jaleel’s death. “We came to know (about the death) from media reports. Neither the police nor any other agency informed us about what happened,” said Jishad.

He urged the police to hand over the body to the family. “They have to release the body to us as we have the right to conduct the funeral as per his beliefs,” Jishad said.

C.P. Rasheed, another of the brothers, told reporters after identifying Jaleel’s body: “From the look of it this seems a planned attack and not something that happened spontaneously.”

A media statement issued by the state police said a detailed inquiry based on Supreme Court guidelines on such killings had been initiated.

The Kerala-Karnataka-Tamil Nadu tri-junction has been a hive for Maoists from various groups.

A district known for its plantations and holiday resorts, Wayanad is a hub of Maoists who frequently emerge from their forest hideouts to buy provisions or to distribute propaganda material.

Maoists had pasted their propaganda posters on the walls of a veterinary university just 500 meters from the holiday resort last month.

In 2016 the Thunderbolt commando force had killed wanted CPI (Maoist) central committee member Kuppu Devaraj in Nilambur, Palakkad district.

In November 2014, a four-member Maoist group had vandalised the Agraharam holiday resort at Thirunelli, Wayanad. In the pre-dawn raid, they had smashed windowpanes and furniture before fleeing.

A few days later, the Western Ghats Zonal Committee of the CPI (Maoist) had sent out media notes claiming responsibility. The attack had been seen as a warning against unbridled real estate projects and holiday resorts in the district.