The police opened fire in the air to disperse a violent mob that assembled at Mattul near Pazhayangadi here on Saturday morning demanding release of a youth arrested in connection with an attack on a police team on Friday night.
The trouble started when police personnel from Pazhayangadi police station led by sub-inspector G. Anoop reached Mattul in the morning to arrest P.V. Noushad (31) who was allegedly involved in the attack.
When the police nabbed him, a mob of around 30 people, including women, stopped the police vehicle demanding his release. The police said the mob refused to disperse despite warnings. Mr. Anoop then opened a single round of fire in the air using his service revolver.
A large posse of police personnel were deployed at the police station to avert any protest outside the station against the arrest. The police said a police jeep had been damaged in the attack at Mattul on Friday night.
The police party had reached the spot following an anonymous phone call informing of illegal sand-mining activities in the area. A police team led by assistant sub-inspector P. Unnikrishnan reached the spot at night and when they started to return from the spot on finding no sand-mining activities, a group of youths who reached there on motorcycles started throwing stones at the police jeep.
The windscreen of the jeep was smashed. Noushad was among those who attacked the police, the police said.
