The police arrested four persons for cockfight betting in Kozhinjampara, near here, on Monday.
Four roosters were seized from the cockpit and the bet amount of ₹8,830 was confiscated. Those arrested were S. Gokul Krishnan, 24, from Ozhalapathy; C. Jayaprakash, 26, from Thenampathy; N. Sakthivel, 26, from Vannamada; and M. Muthukumar, 21, from Vadakarapathy.
The police raided a cockfight centre in a deserted plantation at Thenampathy, near Kozhinjampara, following a tip-off and seized the cocks. Those arrested were later released on bail. The seized roosters were auctioned off by the police for ₹8,900.
The police said they had enhanced the vigil against cockfight betting, as the banned game was on the increase in many areas in the district bordering Tamil Nadu. For the scheduled communities of Pazhankudi Makkal living in the fringes of hills in the border villages of Palakkad, cockfight is a tradition they consider as part of their culture.
Tamil Gaunders in the border regions also invest in and encourage this game. Healthy cockerels are hand picked and trained until they become roosters fit to display their power and persistence in attacking their opponents in cockpits. The value of a fighting cock usually goes up depending on the number of victories it obtains.
Special chicken fairs are often held in the border villages, where roosters come up for sale and auction. Although there is no ban as such on cockfights, police intervenes when betting takes place.
Betting in cockfights leads to quarrels and clashes between groups of aficionados, often invoking stringent clampdown by the authorities.