The controversy over the alleged police excesses at Edathala is now turning on its head with the authorities launching a probe into the alleged terror links in the anti-police protests there on Wednesday.
Rahul R. Nair, District Police Chief, Ernakulam Rural, said the police noticed the presence of criminal elements, including Ismayil Aliyar, aka Bomb Ismayil, an accused in the Kalamassery bus-burning case, among the protesters.
“A probe is on to ascertain how these kind of elements unleashed mass aggression towards the police in the garb of a mass agitation,” the official told The Hindu .
Attack on woman SI
Holding that the attack on woman sub-inspector Jertina Francis at a hospital near Aluva was premeditated, he said attempts were on to identify those involved in the incident. “A case against 200 persons for molestation and manhandling, among other sections, has been registered and CCTV visuals of the protests collected to locate the persons,” Mr. Nair added.
As per the case, the police officer was attacked by a mob, who squeezed her between the door and body of an ambulance while twisting her arms. The officer sustained serious injuries on her back and is undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kochi.
The Aluva East police have registered a case under IPC Sections 147, 143, 341, 333, 353, 354, and 294 in connection with the case. Further, a case against 400 others for the violence during the police station marches at Edathala on Wednesday has also been registered.
Central agencies
Besides the police, Central agencies have also launched a probe into the episode.
On Thursday, the local police started collecting CCTV visuals from Kunjattukara, the accident spot. Even as the police claim that it was an unregistered vehicle of one K.K. Anas that brushed against the police vehicle, they are yet to get a statement from Anas.
