Udupi: Four more accused held here on Saturday in related to the murder attempt on Pudu gram panchayat member and fish businessman Mohmmad Riyaz (34). With the arrest of four, the total number of arrested accused has increased to 9.
The arrested have been identified as Mohammad Ashiq Kochi (22) and Mohammad Mushtaq alias Mista alias Babi of Valachil, Touseer Pattonji (25) of Marnamikatte and Mohmmad Thousif alias Thachchu (25) of Adyar Katte.
Main accused Mohammad Ismail (47) of Farangipete Pudu village, his brother Mohammad Gouse (33), Abdul Kyse (61) of Valachil, Mohammad Muneez (21) of Montugoli, Ansar (22) of Mudipu were arrested on June 10.
Mohammad Ismail had given supari to kill Riyaz. The police recovered one lorry, one car and three lethal weapons used for the attack from the accused.
When Riyaz came to Malpe port on June 7 at 4.30am, he was brutally attacked by the accused who came in a car. Riyaz sustained severe injuries in the incident. A case was registered at Malpe police station.
On the direction of SP Nisha James, two separate teams were formed to trace the accused. Now, all the accused were in judicial custody.
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Palakkad: A group of children celebrating Christmas through a carol roadshow was allegedly attacked by BJP workers in Kerala’s Palakkad district on Sunday night.
According to local reports, the incident occurred in Pudussery area of Palakkad, where over 25 children, mostly aged around 13, were moving from house to house singing Christmas carols. Reports state that a BJP worker identified as Ashwin Raj, along with others, allegedly assaulted the children and vandalised their musical equipment.
According to the police and eyewitness accounts, the children were using a band set that belonged to a local CPI(M) office, which had the party’s name written on it.
Allegedly objecting to this, the accused and his associates reportedly lured the children on the pretext of offering them money and then assaulted them. The band set used by the children was also smashed.
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The Town Police have arrested Ashwin Raj, a local BJP worker who has been named as the prime accused in the case. Efforts are underway to trace and arrest the remaining accused who fled the scene.
Speaking to the media, one of the injured children said, “We were using the band just for fun. When they saw that it had CPM written on it, they took us aside and beat us.”
"We had given the band set that was in our office out of love when the children asked for it. The fact that these young children, who do not know the intricacies of politics, were attacked shows the criminal mentality of the BJP workers," local CPIM leaders expressed outrage.
A police officer told PTI that the arrested accused is already booked under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act (KAAPA).
The sections invoked include Section 192 (provocation with intent to cause a riot), Section 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), and Section 110 (attempt to commit culpable homicide), police added.
