Two murders in two months: Gangs of Kochi make a comeback

Thursday 29 September 2016 05:20 PM IST

by Jijo John Puthezhathu

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Two murders in two months: Gangs of Kochi make a comeback

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Kochi: Two deaths in two months have confirmed the return of the gangsters in and around the city. At least a dozen attacks involving gangsters have put the spotlight on the understaffed police force and a lack of strong officers to crack down on the hired goons and extortionists.

Gangsters kidnapped and murdered a man lured in by the sex mafia into a hotel in Aluva two months ago. Another murder in Kalady was attributed to the rivalry between two gangs. The police also suspect a gang’s involvement in the murder of a young man in west Kochi.

Many of the criminal gangs have made a comeback in Aluva and Perumbavoor. More worrisome is news about the formation of a new band at Athani with the covert support from former cops.

The police say they are severely understaffed to take any action against organized crime. The Kalady police, under whose watch the latest goon attack occurred in the district, is responsible for the maintenance of law and order in six panchayats with a population of over a lakh.

As many as 3,800 criminal cases had been registered in the police station last year. The number can only go up this year. Kalady police station should have a strength of 100 personnel, going by the official ratio of 1 cop for every 1,000 citizens. The station, however, has only 36 personnel even though it has approved vacancies for 47.

Most of the police stations in the district have a similar plight, even four months after the assembly elections.

The government still goes by the census figures from 1961 in determining the strength of the police force. Even that requirement is not adhered to most of the times. Cops admit that goons have had a free run in the absence of officers brave enough to take them on. The dominance of “clerical” officers have dented the “action hero” image of the police.

Meanwhile, criminal gangs are extending their tentacles to all aspects of commercial life. They act as mediators in business disputes in Kochi.

A corporator in Kochi could vouch for the active involvement of goons in all channels of money flow. He was surprised to get a phone call from a gangster serving his term in the Viyyur central jail. Of course, the convict did not call him directly but sent a confidant to the corporator and asked him to pass on the phone to him.

The gangster had a score to settle with him. The corporator’s brother, a financier, had lent money to a relative of the gangster. When the borrower defaulted several times, the financier forced him to part with his house and property. The gangster calmly told the corporator that he wanted to hear that his relative had got back the house and property when he called a week later.

The corporator did not disbelieve the call from jail. He convinced his brother to do as the criminal said.

In this case, the gangster’s intervention was in favor of the common man against a loan shark. In most instances, however, criminal gangs are hired by ruthless financiers and illegal money handlers. People who dare to complain against them often have to pay up more to the goons and corrupt cops to get out of the legal tangle.

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