Kochi: The police assault against people at Puthuvypeen is all set to snowball into another controversy with DGP T.P. Senkumar saying that there was an extremist threat to the PM Narendra Modi during his visit to Kochi for the inauguration of Kochi Metro. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday he justified the police action against the protesters in the background of the extremist threat. “There was no prior knowledge of any such protests and the PM’s motorcade was slated to pass through the route within the next 24 hours. The VVIP visit was carried out under the cloud of a terror threat, which could not have disclosed at that time. The action by the DCP should be viewed in this background,” Mr Senkumar said. The DGP, however, declined to elaborate further on the terror threat to the PM, but confirmed the presence of a terror module here. Giving a clean chit to deputy commissioner of police Yatish Chandra facing flak from various sections of the society the DGP hinted at an extremist link to the agitation at Puthuvypeen. “Of course there is (the presence of some extremist elements behind these protests). Because, there have been people from outside among these protests’’, he said in reply to questions from media persons.
On indiscriminate lathi-charge at the High Court Junction on June 16, too, the DGP gave a clean chit to Yatish Chandra.
The DCP was not part of the police team at Puthuvypeen, he said, and added that the police had a clear mandate to provide adequate security to the proposed project. The DGP also castigated the media for airing the visuals of the agitations at the project site and the High Court by clipping them together.
Earlier the DGP examined video footages of the clashes between the police and the protestors and sought explanations from the DCP and Rural SP. The Kochi Range IG P Vijayan meanwhile has sought a report from city police commissioner and Rural SP on allegations of outside intervention in Puthuvypeen protests.
