Kannur: The police on Monday arrested Eachur native Akshay, who allegedly who hurled a bomb at a wedding party in Thottada here on Sunday, killing one youth. The police have also taken two others – Saneesh and Jijil – into custody in connection with the case.

The police said Akshay has confessed to hurling the bomb at the wedding party.

A 26-year-old youth, Jishnu, died in the explosion on Sunday, while six others were injured. The incident happened at Thottada in Kannur on Sunday afternoon as the wedding party was heading to the groom's house.

Four in custody

The police have taken four people into custody over the incident so far. Along with Akshay, Eachur native Rijul was earlier taken into police custody. Another accused, Mithun, is yet to be nabbed.

The police suspect that Mithun also knew about the bomb besides Akshay and the deceased Jishnu.

Indications are that four people, including Mithun, were directly involved in the attack.

A case has been filed under sections of murder and handling of explosives.

The cops have also not ruled out the possibility of the suspects, who are yet to be nabbed, fleeing the district. They have also stepped up the checks to find the tempo traveller in which the group from Eachur had arrived. The police have recorded the statements of all those who had gone to Thottada after the wedding.

Scuffle on wedding eve

The deceased Jishnu is the son of (late) Mohanan, a native of Eachur. He was a friend of the groom. The incident happened at Chala 12 Kandi Road, around 100metres away from the groom's house.

A scuffle had broken out between the two groups from Thottada and Eachur at the groom's house over playing music on the wedding eve. The bomb attack on the wedding day was a continuation of this.

As the wedding party was walking towards the groom’s house on Sunday, Eachur and Thottada groups got into an altercation again. The Eachur group then hurled the bomb at the rival group from Thottada, but it instead fell on Jishnu. The first bomb, they had thrown, did not explode. The police said that an 18-member group was behind this.

Kannur Mayor says accused are CPM workers

Meanwhile, Kannur Mayor T O Mohanan has said that all the accused are workers of the CPM. While alleging that they have facilities to make and store the bombs, the Mayor sought a thorough probe into this. He also alleged that the accused had detonated a bomb during the previous night as a trial. The blast allegedly took place outside a waste processing plant at Eachur around 1am.