Maoists on Friday issued a poster, threatening to kill Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, saying he has failed Adivasis.

An officer from Pazhayannur police station bordering Palakkad district said the poster was stuck at a workshop. It read: "Vijayan's head will be cut off."

As the police could not register a case on their own, they moved the Wadakanchery Magisterial Court. A probe has begun. The poster was reportedly issued by the "Kerala chapter of Naxalbari.”

The contents of the poster touch upon the custodial torture and later death of a youth, and the assault and death of an Adivasi man Madhu, by a group of people near a forest area. The poster said that even the basic ration meant for Adivasis was not being distributed properly, hence it was time to kill Pinarayi Vijayan.

Both Madhu's killing and the custodial death of Sreejith, a youth from Varappuzha, put the LDF Kerala government in a spot.

Earlier in January, 'Communist', the official organ of the CPI (Maoist) WGSZC (Western Ghats Special Zone Committee) had termed Communist leader Pinarayi Vijayan as their "enemy number one."

It criticised Pinarayi Vijayan government for "spewing venom" against Maoists through posters in villages and said that the entire state machinery was misleading the masses, The New Indian Express reported.

The publication also reportedly mentioned the Maoist encounter in the Nilambur forest in 2016, that killed Maoist leaders Kuppu Devaraj and Ajitha. The encounter was termed as fake by activists and a series of protests were organised against the state police and the government.

(With IANS inputs)