Nellikuzhi homicide exposes ease of smuggling illegal firearms to Kerala

KOCHI: For Kerala police, the murder of P V Manasa, a 24-year-old dental student who was shot dead by her stalker Rakhil, 32, at Nellikuzhi near Kothamangalam, is not just a homicide case. The incident has also exposed how easily an ordinary person in Kerala could source a firearm (pistol) from Bihar. It has thrown up challenges for the police in checking the flow of illegal firearms from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

Senior police officials said a high-level team has discussed the matter and an action plan has been finalised to check the flow of illegal firearms to the state, besides coordinating with police departments in Bihar and UP to identify the source of the weapons. “Bihar and UP have many black markets for firearms from where anyone can source a weapon easily. The state police have been doing their best to check the smuggling of such weapons to the state. We had inputs on gangs in Kasaragod and other rural areas sourcing guns for their crimes and action was taken to check it,” said a senior police officer. 

“It’s not that easy to prevent a person from smuggling in a gun or pistol from other states unless there is specific intelligence input,” said the officer.The data with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) also throws light on the rising inflow of firearms to the state. It shows that in 2019, 203 firearms and 144 ammunition were seized in Kerala under the Arms Act, compared to 211 firearms and 101 ammunition in 2018 and 177 firearms and 153 ammunition in 2017.

Former state police chief Loknath Behera said compared to states like UP, Bihar and Jharkhand where there is a ‘gun culture’ due to easy availability of firearms, use of firearms for violence in Kerala is minimal. “We found only a few cases in Kerala in which guns were used as weapon. This was due to better policing. However, the Nellikuzhi incident is a matter of major concern. The main task of the state police should be to find the source of the pistol and conduct a joint operation with the Bihar police to bust the illegal network that sells firearms,” he said, adding that there are specific areas in Bihar that are infamous for manufacturing, assembling, repairing and selling all kinds of weapons, even the AK-47 and AK-57 assault rifles.