The police on Sunday arrested ‘Andhra Pradesh native’ Satheesh Narayanan who was suspected of setting afire the Vadakara taluk office. The 37-year-old was taken into custody by the special investigation team following his arrests on Saturday in three other similar arson cases.
A senior officer with the Special Investigation Team said the man was nabbed on the basis of strong incriminating evidence including forensic findings and visuals from closed-circuit television cameras. He also ruled out any other sabotage attempt in the incident as alleged by some of the people’s representatives and government officials.
Soon after the incident, which took place on December 17, the police had zeroed in on the man and interrogated him in detail. It was a group of local merchants and people’s representatives who noted the suspicious presence of the man in all the previously reported incidents.
According to police sources, he had the quirky habit of writing something in different languages at the crime spots. He had also maintained an active Facebook account, which would be examined by the hi-tech crime inquiry cell. The support of a medical team would also be sought to examine him as he had shown behavioural disorders and made contradictory statements, they said.
A Circle Inspector associated with the investigation said the man’s Kerala connections and family whereabouts would be examined in detail. “Though he claimed that he was from Andhra Pradesh, we wanted to verify it. To begin with, the statement of one of his relatives now staying at Vadakara has been recorded by our team,” he said.
The building, which was destroyed in the incident, was a heritage structure with over 100 years’ history. As many opposed its reconstruction citing the heritage status, the Revenue Department had decided to restore the old structure with some additional facilities. According to police sources, the man entered the compound in the name of burning waste.
Revenue Department officials said they were yet to assess the total loss and the details of files destroyed in the incident. According to them, a temporary office will start functioning at Vadakara on Monday along with help desks to address public concerns. Details of e-files available will be reported to the Revenue Department soon for proceeding with the recovery of lost files, they added.
