While Taliparamba here that had witnessed incidents of arson in which several vehicles were set on fire over the past three days remained largely peaceful, tension gripped areas neighbouring the town following fresh attacks on vehicles in the early hours of Monday.
The latest attacks on the vehicles by the arsonists outside Taliparamba raised fears about an attempt to extend the violence to the neighbouring areas such as Chapparappadavu and Naduvil. The police were yet to identify the culprits involved in the recent incidents of arson in which several vehicles, mostly two-wheelers, had been set ablaze, in retaliatory attacks following the outbreak of clashes between Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) workers. The police said that law and order arrangements had been beefed up at Taliparamba and nearby areas in view of the tension prevailing in the areas.
Three motorcycles and an autorikshaw were torched and a pick-up van was damaged by unidentified groups in the early hours of Monday. The police said that assailants who rode on two motorcycles hurled stones at a pick-up van of a CPI(M) worker, M.P. Santhosh, parked at his residence compound on the Chapparappadavu-Kooveri Road, at around midnight. At around the same time, the autorikshaw owned by one K. Aneesh, was set afire. Aneesh was said to have no political affiliation, the police said. The vehicle was parked inside his neighbour's compound near Chapparappadavu.
The police also said that a motorcycle of a CPI(M) worker, K. Ajithkumar, parked at his residence at Kanaramvayal under the Payyannur police station limits was attacked by arsonists in the early hours. Two motorcycles parked at the house of V. Andrews at Alakkad under the Payyannur police station limits had also been set ablaze. One of the bikes torched there belonged to CPI(M) worker I. Riju.
A local library controlled by the CPI(M) at Naduvil suffered damages when stones were hurled by a group of attackers who reached there in motorcycles late on Sunday night. The CPI(M) alleged that IUML workers were behind the latest incidents of attacks on vehicles.
The Taliparamba police said that dozens of motorcycles were seized over the past two days to stop arsonists from using the two-wheelers for carrying out the attacks.
