Kerala - Kollam   

Wedding reception attack: six held

KOLLAM: The police have taken six persons into custody in connection with Saturday night's gang attack on guests attending a wedding reception at A.J. Hall in the city in which one person was killed and 12 others hacked, including two women.

Two among those hacked were admitted to the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital in a critical condition.

The attack which shocked the city was the offshoot of quarrels that originated at cinema theatres between two gangs over ticket purchase. Inspector General of Police (Thiruvananthapuram Range) A. Hemachandran arrived in Kollam on Sunday to monitor the situation. He held talks with District Superintendent of Police Harshita Attaluri and assessed the progress of the investigation.

Those taken into custody are Dilshad, Sanofer, Naufil, Niyaz, Shehanshah and Saddam. All of them are residents of Jonakapuram in the city. Five months ago on the first day of the release of Tamil film ‘Aadhavan,' there was a showdown between the Jonakapuram gang and the Depotpurayidam gang at the theatre

The showdown was mainly over violating the queue to purchase tickets. Recently, when members of both the gang met again at a different theatre on the first day of the release of the film, ‘Anwar,' the gang came close to clashes over the previous incident. The police arrived at the scene and dispersed them.

On Saturday, a wedding reception of a close relative of the members of the Depotpurayidam gang was going on at the A.J. Hall, which is situated close to Jonakapuram. Two members of the rival gang happened to see a couple of members of the Depotpurayidam gang at the hall.

They came face-to-face and had a heated argument. The two then quickly went to Jonakapuram and alerted the others, the police said. Nine members of the gang armed with choppers came in two autorickshaws and attacked the rivals. In the process, Mohan Kumar, who tried to pacify the two sides, was fatally hacked, the police said.

The police said those taken into custody were identified by the victims. Mohan Kumar's body was handed over to his relatives after an autopsy at the District Hospital here on Sunday.

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