Kochi police's special force to rein in goons

Kochi: The Kochi Police on Wednesday formed a dedicated squad -- City Task Force (CTF) -- to rein in goons in the wake of increasing crimes involving them.

Kochi Range inspector general of police S. Sreejith heads the unit and deputy commissioner Arul R. B. Krishna is in charge of operations. Experienced police personnel from various stations in the district who have earlier excelled in anti-goon operations would be selected to the squad in the coming days.

“The squad is already functional. Notorious goons, their aides and those related to them are being monitored. We’ve requested the public too to pass on information regarding operations of organised criminal gangs in areas like real estate, land reclamation and drug peddling among others. They can ring up the number 9497980430 to give the information. The identity of the caller will be kept secret, and action will be taken immediately on its basis,” a statement from the city police commissioner M.P. Dinesh said.

The step is in the wake of a sharp rise in activities of criminal gangs, now focussing more on the real estate sector than violent crimes.  The cops have identified major pockets where the groups are active which includes Panangad, Nettur, Kadavanthra, Vathuruthy, Edappally and Palluruthy.

The city police had detained four persons under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities Prevention Act (KAAPA) in 2013 and eight in the following year. Last year, they sent reports against 12.

Ernakulam stood fourth in the number of assault cases involving quotation gangs reported in the 2011-2015 period.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said on Tuesday that the government would take tough measures to deal with the goon menace with an iron fist.