THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police have registered 163 cases in connection with the violent attack on Vizhinjam police station by the Vizhinjam Samara Samithi, while the NIA officials visited the place to check whether any banned outfits, including the Popular Front of India (PFI), had any involvement in the violence.
Sources said the NIA officials stationed in Thiruvananthapuram to check the activities of the former leaders and members of the PFI in the backdrop of its ban were told to proceed to Vizhinjam by superior officers to probe whether the banned outfit had played any role in Sunday’s violence.
As many as 37 cops were injured in Sunday’s violent protests, while multiple police vehicles were also destroyed. DIG R Nishanthini, who has been appointed as special officer to deal with the Vizhinjam issue, denied reports on PFI involvement in the violence and said the NIA officers did not meet her on the issue.
There were unconfirmed reports that the state intelligence wing had red-flagged the presence of pro-Maoist outfits, radical environmentalists and Islamists in protests against Adani group’s port project. Meanwhile, the state police are moving ahead with their exercise to identify the culprits behind Sunday’s attack. However, the police are yet to effect any arrest as their assessment is that any coercive action from their side might ignite another bout of violence.