Move to withdraw cases of rioting at Adivaram

The State government appears to be going slow in proceeding with the 45-odd cases of large-scale rioting at Adivaram. bordering Kozhikode and Wayanad districts. two years ago.

The arson and mayhem had taken place on November 15, 2013 in the guise of protests against the K. Kasturirangan panel report on the Western Ghats The attack on the Thamarassery forest range office by a violent mob was a major case. A special police team had probed this, while the Crime Branch and local police looked into the other cases, including the attack on policemen and destruction of government vehicles.

A three-star bar hotel that functioned at Karadiyil near Thamarassery was also set ablaze the next morning. This was in spite of policemen being deployed in front of the bar following an order of the Kerala High Court.

Right from the beginning, the Home Department had faced pressure from several religious groups and political parties to go slow in the cases especially the attack on the forest office.

Now it seems that the government has taken steps to withdraw the majority of cases, police sources said.

The special team had named 82 accused, and had arrested 39 persons, including a Catholic priest, involved in the arson. The mob had set on fire important files relating to the encroachment of pristine forest land at Jeerakappara.

Those remanded in jail had to deposit a substantial amount to get bail as the police had charged them with sections of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property, the sources said.

Investigators had suspected the links of the sand mafia involved in the mining and sale of weathered sand at Adivaram, Engapuzha and Kaithapoyil areas behind the rioting.

Nearly 50 policemen were injured in the attacks meticulously carried out by groups that reached in tipper lorries from different parts of the district.

The Kasturirangan panel notifications had then identified some ecologically sensitive areas in Kadavoor, Puthuppadi, Nellipoyil, Kodencherry, Thiruvambady, Chembanad, Thrikettapetta, Thinoor and Kavilumpara. Mining, quarrying and construction of high-rise buildings would be totally banned if the notifications came into force in these regions.