THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid reports of deliberate police lapses and failure of the local police in arresting the key accused Om Prakash in the Pattoor goonda attack case, the police department has entrusted the investigation to the district crime branch after assessing that the case requires an extensive probe.
The local police have so far been unable to track down Om Prakash, the notorious gangster, who had planned the attack on four men at Pattoor on January 8. The cases will now be probed by a team led by an officer of the rank of assistant commissioner.
Apart from Pattoor case, the district crime branch will also probe the case pertaining to the attack on the house of two accomplices of Om Prakash. The house of Asif and Arif at Mettukada was allegedly attacked by a rival gang of Om Prakash on January 7. The attack on the house was carried out by Nithin with the assistance of his friends. It was in retaliation that Nithin and his accomplices were hacked near Pattoor by Om Prakash’s gang.
City police commissioner C H Nagaraju said the probe was handed over to the district crime branch as the investigating officer of the case, the Pettah Inspector, was suspended by the Police Headquarters for allegedly maintaining an unholy nexus with criminal elements.
The commissioner added that the department felt the cases required an extensive probe and hence the specialised wing was handed over the case. Meanwhile, the police officers deployed to track down Om Prakash continued to fail in the mission. A police source said the technical intelligence suggested that the suspect is hiding outside the state. However, there is also a view that the digital signatures were deliberately being left behind to mislead the cops and the suspect could be hiding in Kerala itself.
Nithin, who headed a criminal gang, was at loggerheads with Om Prakash over business-related disputes. The Pattoor case was initially probed by the Pettah police while the Mettukada attack case was probed by the Museum police.