KOCHI: The police and intelligence agencies are in a state of shock, unable to comprehend the fearlessness shown by migrant labourers in attacking police personnel and setting a police jeep on fire at Kizhakkambalam without any provocation.
The police believe the incident cannot be taken as a spontaneous reaction because a preliminary assessment revealed that the attack on police teams were planned and organised. “If the attack was spontaneous, they could have ended it by attacking the first police jeep that reached the spot. Instead, they kept attacking the police teams that reached the spot one after the other. Also, the attack was more organised as the group surrounded the police jeeps in large numbers preventing the personnel from coming out of the vehicles,” said a senior officer.
Though Kitex Group chairman Sabu M Jacob has cited drug abuse by migrant labourers as the reason for their violent behaviour, the police are not ready to accept that fully. A police team led by Ernakulam Rural SP K Karthick is analysing the incident threadbare.
“We have launched a detailed probe and all possible angles will be looked into. The backgrounds of those involved are being verified,” the officer said. Intelligence agencies, mainly the Intelligence Bureau, are assessing the situation as they see the incident from a different perspective, considering the attack was carried out by migrant labourers from northeast states, mainly Nagaland and Manipur.