THRISSUR: With six back-to-back murders within a week in the district, Thrissur police have come under severe criticism from various quarters on Saturday. Opposition party leaders have alleged complete lawlessness across Thrissur and demanded strict action from officials to rein in the rising number of crimes.Along with the Anthikkad Nithil murder on Saturday, the district witnessed the murder of CPM branch secretary P U Sanoop, custodial death of ganja case accused P P Shameer, two stabbing cases at Ollur which resulted in the death of a doctor and a senior citizen and Kodungalloor Rajesh murder within the last week.
Although counter-allegations are being raised by CPM and BJP in these murders, Wadakkancherry MLA Anil Akkara feels there is no political motive behind these crimes. “Be it Chowannur Sanoop murder or Anthikkad Nithil murder, local issues and gang wars led to the deaths. Main accused Nandanan’s wife contested in the local body elections under the UDF panel as CMP candidate in 2015, and later switched over to CPM after their party merged with them. He moved to BJP recently due to some other reason.
So, there is no political motive here. This shows the lack of active intervention from police officials to stringently execute the law,” he said. He added that newly appointed officers used to conduct a background study of criminals in their vicinity and constantly monitor them. “It was an unwritten norm earlier. They used to check the details of the gangs and criminals and avert the occurrence of several crimes. Many of these recent crimes have happened because the accused went out on parole or bail. Now, none of those practices is taking place in the district. The situation calls for active measures from them,” added the MLA.
Responding to allegations, Adhithya R, district police chief (City) said: “Most of these crimes have happened between relatives or friends, inside their households. If the perpetrators were anti-social elements, we could prevent them to an extent through our vigilance. That said, we will take measures to reduce its occurrence in future.” Echoing the same, Viswanadh R, district police chief (Rural), clarified that the department has started taking new measures to rein in crimes. “We are trying to control the gangs under legal methods and tighten measures in the coming days to reduce the number of crimes,” he said.
Sanoop murder: Cops recover weapons used for attack
The police team probing the murder of CPM leader P U Sanoop recovered major weapons used for the attack on Saturday. The team had arrested all six accused within five days after the crime. Nandanan, 48, Satheesh, 30, Sreerag A S, 24, Sujay Kumar, 36, Suneesh, 40, and Abhayjith, 19, are the arrested. Sreerag is the nephew of Nandanan who brought the knife used for stabbing the branch secretary. They were taken to the crime spot at Chittilangad and the hideouts at Thandilam and Chemmanad on the day and the weapons were recovered. “We are yet to recover the weapon used by Satheesh for committing the crime. The search will continue in the coming days,” said Abdul Hakkim, inspector, Erumappetty police station.
Search on for aide
The police said a few more people had helped the accused in the murder of Sanoop. Apart from the main six, two more persons are under our radar now, they said.