Distilling arrack at resort in Vagamon; CPM local committee member and member of board of directors arrested

VAGAMON: Police have arrested a CPM local committee member and his aide for distilling arrack at a resort in Vagamon. CPM Pullikkanam local committee member Vattapathal Padikkal PA Aneesh (49) and his aide Ajmal Muhammed (38), a member of the board of directors of the Vagamon-based Kerala Tourism Development Society, were arrested. Police said 200 litres of wash and a few litres of distilled liquor were recovered.

Aneesh was inducted into the local committee at the CPM Pullikkanam local committee meeting the other day. The resort near Kunnamkulam belongs to a native of Poonjar in Kottayam. Aneesh had taken over the resort a while back. The police received information that arrack was being brewed at the resort without accommodating tourists. A squad of the district police chief conducted a raid and nabbed the two. Aneesh was a member of the CPI mandalam committee and a member of Azhutha block panchayat from 2005 to 2010. Aneesh had been working with the CPM after he was expelled from the party five years ago as part of disciplinary action.