Kottayam: A man who let loose ferocious canines at a police party that came hunting for drugs at a dog-breeding center here and fled has been held on Friday.
Robin George (28), a native of Parampuzha Thekketundathil who rented out a house near Valyalinchuvadu near Kumaranellor, was arrested from Tamil Nadu and brought to the Gandhi Nagar Police station.
The anti-narcotics squad of the Kottayam Police got the shock of their lives when they reached the dog-breeding center based on a tip-off that the accused was indulging in drug sales.
The squad, which reached the location on Sunday midnight, saw violent dogs trained to bite anyone wearing ‘khaki’ attire pouncing on them, thereby hindering the search, District Police Chief K Karthik said. The accused, Robin, who let the dogs loose, fled the area in the melee. He jumped into the nearby Meenachil River and escaped.
However, the cops managed to subdue the dogs later and seized 17.8 kilograms of ganja from the house rented out by the accused to run the dog-breeding center. A case with charges under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS) was lodged against him then.
Later, the cops learned that the accused swam across the river, having over 50 meters of width at the Koshamattom Colony side, and hopped on an auto that came through the colony. Robin’s own house is located in the colony.
The police party reached the dog-breeding center around 10.30 pm on Sunday. Only Robin was there at that time. He immediately opened the cage in which three dogs belonging to the ferocious American Bully breed were kept and made good his escape in the commotion.
Later, the police managed to subdue the canines with the help of dog trainers from the Police Dog Squad (K-9 Squad) and shift them back to the cage. They recovered two bags of ganja from a room in the house in the subsequent search.
A special team led by the Kottayam DySP was formed to catch the accused and conduct further investigation into the case.
Though the cops laid a wide net to catch the accused, they received no information about his hideout. Since he was not using a phone or ATM card, the police couldn’t find out his escape route.
The police have sought a legal opinion over invoking more charges against the accused, who unleashed dangerous dogs on them. They are trying to find out whether stringent charges can be invoked against Robin, who trained the dogs in advance to attack those in ‘khaki’ attire and unleashed them at the search party.
The accused had, in a similar way, let loose the dogs against an excise team when they came there as part of a probe. He unchained the canines upon seeing the excise vehicle outside the gate, forcing the sleuths to retreat. Robin also threatened the local residents who complained about the dog-training center that he would unleash the “boys” at them, referring to the dogs.
Inflicting injury on a person using a dangerous weapon or in a similar manner is a crime under Section 324 of the IPC. Injuring another person using animals too is an offense that comes under the purview of this section.
