Man held for fourth time under Kaapa

Thiruvananthapuram: The Thumba police on Tuesday held a notorious criminal, invoking provisions of Kerala Antisocial Activities (Prevention) Act (Kaapa) against him. The police identified the accused as Shibu alias Pullukad Shibu of Kunnumpuram near Attipra. This is the fourth time Shibu is being detained under Kaapa. He was later sent to the Poojapura Central Prison to undergo stipulated jail term of six months.
According to the police, Shibu's activities mainly focussed on the booming real estate industry in Kazhakkoottam, Attipra and Akkulam regions, especially in the rock quarry at Pullukad and its surrounding areas. His main ‘activity’ was to extort money from the builders engaged in construction in the IT corridor here. He was last arrested for seriously injuring a builder, Sunil Raj, who also happened to be his neighbour. When Sunil Raj refused to pay him extortion money, Shibu attacked him with a broken bottle, inflicting serious injuries on the former's face and head. Recently, he got out of jail on bail. But, he started committing crimes soon, following which city police commissioner P Prakash recommended the district collector to invoke Kaapa against him. At Thumba police station alone, Shibu had as many as 25 criminal cases pending against his name, the police said.

He was held by a team comprising city shadow police squad under the leadership of Thumba sub-inspector Prathap Chandran and additional sub-inspectors (shadows) Arun Kumar and Yashodharan.