KOCHI: After a hiatus of nearly two years, several criminal and quotation gangs have re-surfaced in the district. During the last two weeks, four murders and two attempts to murder were reported from the district. Of this, two are cases of alleged goonda attacks.
The murder of 34-year old youth Sanal Devasykutty at Kalady has put the spotlight on the fact that gang wars are back with a bang in Ernakulam, which earlier had the tag of ‘hub of quotation gangs’.
It was on September 26 that the goonda attack at Kalady resulted in the death of Sanal Devasykutty. Police says that rivalry between two gangs led to the killing. A gang led by Ratheesh alias Kara Ratheesh, who had since been arrested, had nursed a grudge towards Sanal for attacking the house of the former and killing his pet dog.
Besides, Sanal, who was associated with another gang, had attacked Ratheesh’s mother in 2014. In retaliation to this, Ratheesh’s group attacked Sanal’s home but he was not there. For the past two years, the gang had been chasing Sanal to avenge. Though the key accused involved in the killing - Ratheesh, Eldho alias Aachi, Grintesh and Tomy - went on hiding after the incident, the police managed to arrest them. The police have also arrested seven persons, who had provided assistance to the gang and helped them destroy evidence.
Retaliation
In a suspected retaliatory attack, a 31-year-old youth Ajeesh was assaulted at Manjapra near Kalady on September 28. All the accused behind the assault were also nabbed. The arrested were notorious criminals and involved in several criminal activities in Manjapra area, according to the police.
Many gangs
Perumbavoor DySP K S Sudharshan, who headed the investigation said, besides these groups, many other gangs are also active in Kalady area.
“The accused Ratheesh was under probe for as many as 24 criminal cases. Sanal was the target of the gang for the past two years and when they got a chance, they annihilated him”, he said.
The data available with Kalady Police Station cited that there are as many as 40 history-sheeters within the station limits. Of this, the Police had recommended imposition of Kerala Anti-Social Activities Prevention Act (KAAPA) against three persons, including Ratheesh. However, the District KAAPA Board rejected the recommendation.
Mining mafia
Police officers attributed the rise in goonda activity in Kalady to the functioning of quarries and sand and red-earth mining units. Many of these quarry operators have engaged gangs to protect their area and to keep away their opponents.
However in Kochi, which had witnessed many gang wars and quotation killings in the past, no incidents of goonda clashes have been reported during the last week. The gangsters in Kochi are now focused in real estate, illegal money lending, wetland reclamation and illegal mining, according to the officers.
However, recently the name of the gang headed by Haris Chalikkavattom was mentioned in a well-orchestrated theft at Perumbavoor. It was on August that a 14-member group looted cash and valuables from the house of Perumbavoor-native Parappuram Palipparambil Sidhique Abdul Rahman with eight of them posing as Vigilance officials assigned to conduct ‘raid’ in the house.
The theft was an attempt to raise fund to meet the expenses for handling Indian Mujahideen operative Thadiyantevida Nazeer’s cases. The terror-linked theft came to light with the arrest of Abdul Halim, the mastermind behind the operation, who is a close aide of Nazeer.
As per the District Crime Records Bureau (DCRB) statistics, five murders were reported in Kochi city till June this year. Meanwhile, the latest data available with National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) cited that Kochi second in the state with highest crime rate in murder after Kollam. 11 murder cases were registered in the city in 2015, while Kollam reported 18 murders.
