Thiruvananthapuram: Eight-member gang held for attack on youth at Vizhinjam

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An eight-member-gang was held for assaulting a youth at Vizhinjam on Tuesday. According to police, the violence was part of gang rivalry between two groups of youths.
The arrested are Mohammed Shafi (28), Akhil Venu, (23), Ismail, (21), Hashim, (21), Ashiq, (29), Ajmal, (24), Mohammed Sajin, (22), and Firoze, (22). All the accused are residents of Vizhinjam. Faisal (23) is the complainant in the case. He has sustained serious injuries after being thrashed using wooden logs and sticks.
According to the police, the violence was reported around 10am on Tuesday at Theatre Junction in Vizhinjam. The accused captured the complainant, tied him to the flagpole of DYFI at the junction and kept thrashing him for around half an hour. Though the local residents tried to intervene, the assailants chased them away by brandishing their weapons at them.
The police have booked the accused for attempted murder. Relevant sections related to unlawful assembly, rioting, causing grievous hurt using dangerous weapons and criminal intimidation were also invoked against the accused. Meanwhile, the DYFI local unit too has filed a complaint before the police against the accused for using their flagpole as a tool for violence.
Vizhinjam station house officer S B Praveen said that the attack was connected to another incident of violence that was reported at Vizhinjam three days ago. The main accused in Tuesday’s violence, Mohammed Shafi, was waylaid by a group of men three days ago. Faisal is reportedly a close acquaintance of the men who carried out that attack. Shafi and friends spotted Faisal and vented their anger on him on Tuesday.
Both the groups were also involved in small-scale peddling of drugs. There was tension between the two groups regarding the narcotics trade in the area and this escalated into violence, said inspector Praveen.