Thiruvananthapuram: The police are yet to arrest the main accused in two gangland murders in the district this year.

High on the wanted list of the Rural Police is `Karate' Suresh, who has been named accused in the murder of `Changidi' Vinod at Kazhakkuttom on January 16.

The police suspect rivalry between two gangs in Kazhakkuttom to have culminated in the murder of Vinod.

An official said that Suresh figured as accused in at least 11 cases in Attingal police subdivision. He said efforts were on to track the accused and arrest him.

According to the police, a criminal gang on the suspicion that he was an informant of a rival gang leader killed Vinod.

The city police said they were moving for the arrest of Vineesh (22) of Althara in connection with the murder of a 35-year-old man near a bar hotel at Sasthamangalam. The murder is suspected to be the high point of a running feud between two gangs engaged by private financing companies for recovering mortgaged vehicles from car loan defaulters.

The police said the main accused in the `Mota' Ani murder case, Ambili, had surrendered before the court recently.

The Crime Branch is reported to have taken him into custody for questioning. The three gangland murders happening in a short span of time have prompted the district police to initiate a crackdown on gangs benefiting from illegal money lending, extortion and muscle-for-money operations. The gangland stand-offs have often resulted in open fights in public places.

High point of feud

The police said that the killing of Ani could be the high point of a feud between criminal gangs profiting from money lending and settling of civil disputes in the city.

An official said that gang leaders now "remote controlled" most of the gangland violence by using youth who were yet to figure in police crime records.

He said the police were collecting intelligence on "violent" criminals and updating its crime database to factor in the "new faces".

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