Kozhikode police raids lodges

KOZHIKODE: The mysterious circumstances that led to the death of a 22-year-old man at a lodge in Mankavu have prompted the city police to tighten the checking, especially in lower and middle-class lodges.  During the raids till Monday, they seized nearly Rs 1 lakh in cash from various lodges in town and Kasaba police station limits and arrested 21 people. Kasaba CI Pramod P. told this newspaper that all of them aged between 30 and 40 were held under Kerala Gaming Act. 

The money found in the lodge rooms were confiscated, he said. “Post-mortem report would be available in two to three days and only after that we would be able to comment on the cause of death,” he said on the death of Shahil P.P., who was declared brought dead from a lodge on Sunday. According to narcotic cell assistant commissioner Babu K. Thomas, almost all the main accused in the recent drug trafficking networks were nabbed in the recent raids. 

“Though the last incident of death cannot be concluded as drug overdose before the reports are released, it is confirmed that there are networks that involve mainly youngsters and who supply or share them at lodges or flats in the city. They are mostly resorting to tablets, which can be transported easily, without an element of doubt,” the ACP said.

Incidents of unregistered cases also reveal that the gathering of youngsters in hotels for ‘entertainment’ after meeting online are not lone cases.  On Saturday, a female MBBS student hailing from Karamana was found with four young men in a hotel room in the city.  On interrogation, the girl’s father admitted that she had taken permission to spend time with her friends and the girl was sent back by police in a KSRTC bus. The gang had met during a trip to Himachal Pradesh six months ago.