Kerala - Alappuzha   

Drive against goondas intensified

ALAPPUZHA: The district police have intensified the crackdown on anti-social elements in Alappuzha and its surrounding areas. More than 10 arrests were recorded in the past 24 hours.

The crackdown on hired gangs was intensified in the wake of rising inter-gang feuds and attacks on the public over the past month, which culminated in the murder of Benny, a wanted criminal, at Kommadi on Monday night.

District Superintendent of Police C.H. Nagaraju said the police had already intensified their drive against anti-social activities even before the media pointed out the sudden rise in such acts.

The crackdown in the past 24 hours resulted in the nabbing of wanted criminals, goons wanted in political cases and those moving around in suspicious circumstances, some of them with weapons. The persons wanted in the attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Paravur office on Sunday were also arrested. The Punnapra police on Tuesday night arrested Deepu, 19, and Gopan, 27, both allegedly activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

The Muhamma police arrested one Kannan, 23, who was an accused in the attack on Shaji, a trader in Kalavoor and his wife Ambika, while the Alappuzha North police nabbed two persons who were moving around with weapons on Tuesday night. The arrested were Ani and Manikuttan, natives of Komalapuram, who were armed with swords, police officers said.

In another arrest by the Punnapra police, Motta Sanoj alias Sanoj, who was wanted in several assault cases, was picked up from Punnapra in the district.

In Muthukulam, near Kayankulam, two persons, identified as Devakumar, 38, and Sreekumar, 32, were arrested after they allegedly threatened the public with swords and iron rods at the Vettathu Junction on Tuesday evening.

The Kayankulam police nabbed Chillu Sreekumar, a notorious criminal while he and his gang were about to loot a house in the early hours of Wednesday.

Sreekumar, wanted in several assault, robbery and chain snatching cases in the central Travancore region, had escaped from police custody on three previous occasions.

The district police have formed anti-goon squads all police stations while lists of wanted criminals have been circulated to all Deputy Superintendents of Police, sources said.

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