Gang attack on Kochi eatery: Owner alleges covert police support to miscreants

Gang attack on Kochi eatery: Owner alleges covert police support to miscreants
The gang broke the glass doors, refrigerators, and furniture; making scared customers run for cover. Owner Minu (right) said they had sustained a loss of Rs 2 lakh due to the attack.

Kochi: Minu Pauline, the owner of 'Pappadavada,' a private restaurant at Kaloor, Kochi, which was ransacked by miscreants on October 8, suspects a conspiracy behind the attack. 

She said gangster Shinto, part of the four-member gang which attacked the restaurant, was 'arrested' immediately after the attack. He but came back again in 30 minutes to throw stones at the restaurant. Minu and her husband, Amal, called in the police a second time. They removed the miscreant from the spot. Making a mockery of it all, Shinto appeared a third time as the couple was arranging their furniture. People in the vicinity, irked by the police laxity and the gangster's temerity, caught hold of him. The police recorded his arrest only after this. 

The gang had barged into the dining lounge with iron rods and sticks. They broke the glass doors, refrigerators, and furniture; making scared customers run for cover. Amal, manning the cash counter, was also manhandled. The police arrested three attackers on the basis of information provided by the employees of 'Pappadavada.'  

Murukan, one of the three, was dismissed from his supplier job on September 1 for abusing a migrant labourer at the lobby. The police said Murukan and his friends avenged the dismissal by destroying the eatery and manhandling Amal. 

This is the second gang attack on 'Pappadavada' after the one on September 11. 

Minu said they had sustained a loss of Rs 2 lakh due to the attack. "This is a clear case of revenge attack. Murukan had friendly ties with Shinto and Vinod, another gangsters involved in the attack. They avenged Murukan's dismissal by executing a well-planned attack," the Ernakulam north police told the media. The police told Onmanorama that three attackers had been interrogated. "They will be produced before court on October 10," the police said. 

Covert support 

Gang attack on Kochi eatery: Owner alleges covert police support to miscreants
The gang had barged into the dining lounge of 'Pappadavada' with iron rods and sticks.

Minu doubts a conspiracy between a section of the policemen and the gangsters. She said cops from the Ernakulam north police station reached the restaurant almost 30 minutes after the conflict situation ended. "The first thing the cops asked us on reaching the restaurant was about the blood on one of the attackers' forehead. After 30 minutes, the police took the attackers on their jeep. Shinto turned up again at the restaurant and threw stones. We called the police again and they removed Shinto from the spot again. After the crowd dispersed, my husband and I were placing the furniture back in place. Shinto appeared at the gate a third time. Some local people captured him and handed him over to the police this time. The police recorded the arrest only then," she said. 

Minu said she was threatened and harassed by the policemen for causing injuries to the attackers. "The first thing cops did was to arrest my husband Amal and lock him up. While I was waiting at the station, a senior police officer told me that we would be manhandled for offending our employees. They were also trying to belittle us terming the case a 'hassle.' I think the gangsters had informed the police before they came to attack my shop,"  Minu said.   

However, Minu and Amal has secured the CCTV footage of the attack. Minu started 'Pappadavada' in 2016 with an ambitious 'Nanmamaram project' where she had kept a refrigerator full of food packets outside her shop. Those who cannot afford to buy food could pick a packet or two from the refrigerator. 'Nanmamaram' was highly appreciated by the people of Kochi as the public too started filling up the refrigerator with food packets. 

Despite of the fame, 'Nanmamaram' refrigerator was also destroyed by the gangsters in the recent attack. 

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