Daijiworld Media Network - Sullia (SP)

Sullia, Feb 13: Unknown persons in the wee hours of Sunday February 11 visited a house at Kalmakaru near Subrahmanya. They pressed the call bell. As the family members did not open the door for long, they went away.

The villagers of Kalmakaru, which is nested on the border of Dakshina Kannada and Kodagu districts, have turned fearful because of this incident. After midnight on Saturday, the call bell of the house belonging to Vedavati from Kommemane here rang. Vedavati and her son, Sathish, were sleeping inside the house. Even as the duo tried to guess who could be visiting them, the visitors rang the bell twice more. When they questioned aloud who was outside, there was no reply. At that time, power supply went off and the entire village was plunged into darkness. Sathish, who turned apprehensive, called people living nearby including relatives. They came out and started searching, but there was no trace of anyone and no clues about the visitors, the family told the police.

"Our dog had not barked at the arrival of unidentified visitors. During the search the next day, we found pieces of dried fish near the dog's kennel. It is likely that the visitors would have provided fish pieces to the dog in order to ensure that it remained silent. At the same time, domestic dogs in the vicinity were heard barking the whole night," locals explained.

This house is located within the reserve forest area of Kadamakallu. In the recent past, suspected naxals had appeared at Sampaje and visited some houses thereafter which Anti Naxal Force along with local police had combed nearby forest areas. At that time, it was suspected that the naxals would have entered the forest area at Sampaje and shifted base to Kadamakallu reserve forest area. Therefore, the current incident has strengthened the notion that naxals would have actually come to this side of the forest.

After the family informed Subrahmanya police, sub-inspector, Gopal M and other staff, conducted verification. They found shoe marks near the front door and sign of people having walked in front of the verandah near both the doors of the house. Three to four persons would have visited, as per current indications however, no vehicular movement was observed either on the courtyard or nearby, the police stated.