Marxist goon held

Marxist goon held

PNS | Thiruvananthapuram

Even when the Kerala CPI(M) was constantly offering denials about its links with “quotation” gangs (hoodlums for hire), a capital-based infamous goonda with Marxist party membership surrendered before the police while authorities claimed that he was arrested.

Hari Prasad, a known goonda of the capital region and a name figuring prominently on the gooda list of the Home Department, surrendered before the police amid an arrest drama on Monday morning. The goonda was a formal member of the CPI(M)’s Vanchiyoor local committee in Thiruvananthapuram.

He had been on the wanted list of the police for the past one year but they were not able to arrest him due to his connections with the CPI(M), which was looking after the Home portfolio. The district collector had issued the order to arrest him a long time ago, but he had been leading a jolly life in full public view supported by his mentors in the corridors of power.

Hari Prasad, an accused in several criminal cases, was also a close associate of Thiruvananthapuram-based underworld don Om Prakash, who had gone into hiding after the murder of young industrialist Paul George Muthoot on the Alappuzha-Changanassery Road at midnight August 21. The police had launched a manhunt for Om Prakash and another don Puthenpalam Rajesh who had traveled with Paul in his car on the fateful night.

The goonda had surrendered as per clear understanding with the police. Though the official claim was that he had been arrested at Vanchiyoor under the anti-goonda Act, the reality was that the arrest was part of a surrender drama, the script of which had been decided earlier, according to sources.

The CPI(M) had been denying reports that several goondas in the capital, including Om Prakash, had Marxist party connections. Reports had said that Om Prakash was a friend of several CPI(M) leaders in Thiruvananthapuram and that this was jow he had been able to avoid arrest for the past one year. There were even reports that Om Prakash had been getting help from the Home Department.

The police had arrested another infamous goonda based in Thiruvananthapruam, Airport Shyam, at midnight Saturday from Kochi. The police had once declared him absconding after several efforts to nab him had failed. He was arrested in Kochi amidst the police investigations into the Paul murder.

Even after the arrest of a formal member of the CPI(M), who was also an activist of the DYFI, the Marxist youth outfit claimed that the Congress party and former CPI(M) firebrand MV Raghavan were responsible for the growth of goonda gangs in Kerala.

State DYFI secretary TV Rajesh said that the foundation stone for the “goonda politics” in Kerala was laid by Raghavan and K Sudhakaran, Congress MP from Kannur. He also criticized the media, which had been putting forth discomforting questions regarding the murder of Paul Muthoot, were trying to derail the police investigation.