Bid to torch car: EMCC director Shiju Varghese and accomplices in police custody

KOLLAM: Police have taken into custody the accused in a bid to torch a car by hurling petrol bomb on the day of the Assembly elections.

Shiju Varghese (48), of Ayyampally Edappad house in Kochi's Kuzhuppally, and DJSP candidate in Kundara and EMCC MD, Srikanth (41) and Vinu Kumar (41) was handed over to police custody by Kottarakkara court. Accused will be taken to Kochi, Palarivattom, Harippad and Ambalappuzha where the conspiracy took place and evidence will be collected today and tomorrow. Krishnakumar, a native of Thiruvananthapuram, who was involved in the incident, is under police surveillance as he is undergoing treatment for Covid. Police are also monitoring another man based in Kochi and Delhi.

Shiju Varghese, who contested against minister Mercy Kutty Amma. and his accomplices staged a bomb blast on the Kannanallur-Kundara road between Kurippally and Palamukku on election day to divert public sentiment against the minister. They were arrested by the police last day.