Kerala police flay goons' in political parties

Kozhikode: The police says criminal gangs in political parties are flaring up small issues that start among individuals or small groups. On a series of violence in Perambra and on its outskirts, CI Sunil Kumar K.P. told DC that they were planning a meeting of prominent political party leaders. A meeting, earlier scheduled for Tuesday, did not take place and the leaders of the rival parties communicated to each other on the issue, said the inspector.

“The leaderships do not have an interest in the violence, but criminal gangs inside these parties, who take up the petty issues among the individuals, are flaring it up. After the peace meeting, the leaders would visit the violence-hit areas to alleviate fear among the public,” said Mr Kumar. Rural SP M.K. Pushkaran said the continuous violence could not be tolerated and the accused would be arrested irrespective of their political allegiance.

The series of violence started in the first week of March, with clashes between BJP and CPM workers in Kizhakkan Perambra, over an anti-drug poster put up by a newspaper agent. Later, student conflicts in Nochad Higher Secondary School led to SFI-MSF and then CPM-IUML clashes. In Paleri, bombs were hurled at houses of BJP leaders and in the recent incident in Chenoli in Nochad panchayat, houses and poultry farms were destroyed.