Odisha man held within a week of hurling stones at trains in Kannur
KANNUR: An Odisha native has been arrested in connection with hurling stones at two trains in Kannur on last Sunday. The accused, Sarvesh, 25, was arrested in a joint investigation by the Railway Protection Force and Kannur Town police on Saturday. “The police spotted Sarvesh after checking visuals from 200 CCTVs from the region where the trains were attacked,” said City Police Commissioner Ajith Kumar.
On August 13, stones were hurled at two trains -- Nethravati Express heading towards Mumbai from Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai Superfast Express heading towards Chennai from Mangaluru-- between Kannur railway station and Kannur South. “During interrogation, Sarvesh confessed to the crime. He said that he was in an inebriated state and had thrown stones four times. Of this, two stones had hit the trains that passed through,” said the commissioner.
Sarvesh has been working as a painter in Kannur for the last 10 years. “We don’t think that it was a planned attack as the person was drunk at the time of the incident. However, we will conduct a detailed investigation regarding the background of the accused in Odisha to check whether he has a criminal background,” he added.
The police had said earlier that drunken gangs were behind the hurling. Following frequent incidents, the police had formed special squads to spot such gangs that used to gather near railway tracks. They have also been conducting raids in buildings near the railway tracks. They have called for support from the part of the public to spot the miscreants doing the damage.