KOCHI: A mob of around 30 people blocked a police team who had come to Fort Kochi on Thursday night to arrest a man booked in a five-year-old assault case.
Officers led by Assistant SI Shanavas of the Mulavukad police team had come to Mehboob Park Colony around 10 pm in search of Aliyar who had brutally assaulted a woman and her seven-month-old child after breaking into their house at Mulavukad in 2018.
Involved in multiple criminal cases, Aliyar had been on the run since the incident. After getting a tip-off that Aliyar was seen in the colony, Shanavas and the team went there and nabbed him. However, before Aliyar could be taken to the police station, the mob surrounded the officers and forced them to release him.
When Mulavukad SI Sunekh reached the spot, the mob blocked his vehicle and attacked the officers. The police were allowed to leave only after the mob ensured that Aliyar had fled.
Fort Kochi police have registered a case against Aliyar and 30 others, all of whom have been identified. Meanwhile, Mulavukad police have passed information about Aliyar to other stations and searches are on in his known hideouts.