The Hindu : Swords recovered from Marad area

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Mar 25, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Swords recovered from Marad area

By Our Staff Reporter

KOZHIKODE, MARCH 24. Six swords were recovered from a reclaimed paddy field at Peringolam, near Marad, today.

According to the police, the swords were recovered by them after schoolchildren spotted a sword while playing in the area in the morning. All the swords were rusty and had been found hidden in the mud.

The police suspect that one of the swords was similar in its design and make to the swords that had been used in the Marad massacre on May 2, 2003. The police had earlier seized about 50 swords and other weapons from the Marad Juma Masjid and other places on the beach as part of the investigations into the incident. The remaining five swords recovered today were of another design and mould, police sources said.

The City Police Commissioner, T.K. Vinod Kumar, and the Assistant Commissioner of Police (South), Chakeri Aboobacker, along with other senior officers visited the area today. A case has been registered at the Marad police station.

Further investigation had been ordered in this connection, Mr. Vinod Kumar said. The police had conducted extensive search for weapons on the strife-torn beach on January 2. But then they did not recover any weapons from the 2.5-km beach stretching from Gotheeswaram to Dandankavu at Marad. The police had then not searched the Peringolam area which was lying more than a kilometre east of the Marad police station, he said.

The dog squad would be pressed into service in the search for weapons in the area. About 200 police personnel had already been posted in the communally sensitive area ever since the May 2 carnage. The security would be further tightened at Marad and adjoining areas since the first anniversary of the incident was round the corner, Mr. Kumar added.

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