Following a suspicion that some of the local protesters were involved in the recent bomb attack on a quarry office in Kavilumpara panchayat, the Thottilpalam police have started checking the details people who were found involved in the past series of protests seeking the closure of the unit.
The quarry had been remaining closed for several months as the panchayat denied permission to renew the licence citing environmental issues.
A senior police officer from Thottilpalam station said the suspected involvement of a political party and some of the action committee members was under the scan. “Two steel bombs had been hurled at the quarry office. One had been defused by the bomb squad on the spot,” he said.
Police officers said the motive for the attack, despite the quarry had been remaining closed for months, was remaining obscure. “Though it was an area with confirmed presence of Maoist supporters, this incident had no such links,” they confirmed.
Police sources said there was strong protest from the local residents when the quarry was operational because of environmental pollution.
There were several rounds of open protests in the area. But the latest one, with bombs, was critical. It will be investigated seriously, they added.
