Kilikollur incident: Army begins probe, releases video for justification, setback for police itself

KOLLAM: The army is intervening in the incident that happened at the police station in Kilikollur. The officials of Pangode military camp visited the house of Vishnu, the injured soldier and collected information. The officials mainly enquired about the attack and the details of the fake case. Meantime, the soldier's family has decided to lodge a complaint with the Defence Minister through N K Premachandran MP.

The army had sought a report from the chief secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP) about the incident.

If a personnel is arrested, the information should be reported to the army within 24 hours. However, even though Vishnu was arrested on August 25, the police informed the army camp late. The army considers its personnel to be on duty even if they are on leave. If a soldier is apprehended for an offence, the police should report the incident at the nearest regiment. However, the Kilikollur police failed to report the incident at Thiruvananthapuram Pangode Regiment. The procedure is that the military police will file a case. However, there has been a lapse from the side of the police in reporting the incident to the army. The army will examine all these things.

Meantime, the video released by the police to prove that they have not attacked Vishnu and his brother Vignesh is a setback for them. It is also alleged that there is a move to protect the suspended police officers. However, the visuals show that the policeman was the first to beat the soldier for no reason. Policeman Prakash Chandran can be seen slapping Vishnu. He is seen defending in the video and in the melee, can see both falling down.