The Tripunithura police on Thursday arrested four members of a “quotation gang” in connection with the murder attempt on a person near here on April 17.
The accused were identified as Shoukath T, a native of Arakkakadavu, Biju T.L and Prajith NC and Dileep Kumar of Thiruvananthapuram. They were taken into custody following a probe into the attack on one Rajiv P.Gopal, a resident of Eroor near here. The police are on the lookout for one Ajayan, the key accused in the case, who hired the gang for a sum of Rs.1.30 lakh.
According to police, Ajayan had an altercation with Rajiv over a property dispute and approached Shoukath, an accused in several criminal cases, to get him eliminated. Based on this, the gang led by Shoukath hatched a plan to kill Rajiv on his way back from workplace.
“After a couple of futile attempts, they finally zeroed in on Rajiv near the SN junction on April 17 and attacked him with metal rods and stabbed him several times. However he survived the attempt due to timely intervention by locals’’, said Baiju Poulose, Circle Inspector of police.
Following this, the gang members went into hiding and on a tip-off, the police tracked the gang. While three persons were traced to a hide-out near Tripunithura, Dileep was arrested from Thiruvananthapuram. “Realising that the police were after the gang, Ajayan promised to pay Rs one lakh not to reveal his name’’, the official added.
The accused have been booked under IPC 307 and remanded in custody.