Kochi bar shooting: Case against prime accused for possession of firearms
KOCHI: Probing the shooting incident at a hotel in Kathrikadavu, the police on Friday registered a fresh case against the prime accused for the possession of firearms.
The Ernakulam North police have decided to extend the investigation to Bihar from where the prime accused – Vineeth, 37, of Parakkadavu – procured the pistol used in the shooting at Hotel Edassery Mansion that injured two bar employees on February 11.
While taking Vineeth into custody from a place near the Ernakulam Town railway station, the police team found a country-made pistol with three live cartridges in it. During interrogation, he admitted that the pistol used for firing was a different one, which was later recovered from his house. He revealed the country-made pistol was arranged by his friend. The police are tracing his friend.
“We have registered a fresh case under the Arms Act against Vineeth for illegally possessing firearms. The country-made pistol used for firing was procured from Bihar with the help of a person there. We are carrying out a detailed probe into these recovered firearms. We have identified the persons who supplied firearms to Vineeth and his gang,” a police officer told TNIE.
After his arrest, Vineeth confessed that he had been procuring arms and ammunition since 2016 to form a gang.
Vineeth was a member of the dreaded Bhai Nazeer gang in Kochi. After exiting the gang in 2012, he started forming his own gang comprising youngsters from Angamaly, Kalady, Nedumbassery and Aluva. As rival gangs were gaining the upper hand in Kochi, he started collecting firearms to strengthen his gang.
“He procured pistols through various illegal channels. Most of them came from Bihar, famous for the sale of illegal firearms. He also procured country-made firearms. We have to unearth these weapons and also his gang members who are keeping them,” the officer said.
The hotel shooting was not the first time a pistol sourced from Bihar was used in a criminal act in Ernakulam district. In 2021, Rakhil of Kannur procured a pistol from Munger district in Bihar. He used the pistol to shoot dead Manasa, a student of the Indira Gandhi Institute of Dental Sciences in Nellikkuzhi after breaking into the house where she lived as a paying guest.