Blast at Pinarayi: EP Jayarajan contradicts police, says party worker was making firecrackers for Christmas
Sub-Inspector Manojan T K, who registered the FIR, said Vipin Raj had initially planned to burst the cracker at his sister’s house, where he was staying.
Sub-Inspector Manojan T K, who registered the FIR, said Vipin Raj had initially planned to burst the cracker at his sister’s house, where he was staying.
Sub-Inspector Manojan T K, who registered the FIR, said Vipin Raj had initially planned to burst the cracker at his sister’s house, where he was staying.
Kannur: The explosion that tore apart the right palm of a CPM worker in Pinarayi has taken a fresh turn, with the party now offering an explanation that contradicts the police version of events.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, had alleged that Vipin Raj (25) was injured when a bomb he was making exploded in his hand. According to reports, Vipin Raj is also an accused in an earlier case involving an attack on a UDF office.
The Pinarayi police, however, insisted the injury happened while he was trying to burst a leftover high-decibel firecracker (gundu) near his sister’s house at Venduttayi on Tuesday. They booked him for “negligent handling of explosive substances” under Section 288 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
Sub-Inspector Manojan T K, who registered the FIR, said Vipin Raj had initially planned to burst the cracker at his sister’s house, where he was staying. However, at her request -- so as not to startle her newborn child -- he moved about 100 metres away to an open ground, where the firecracker exploded in his hand, the officer said.
On Wednesday, a third version emerged when senior CPM leader E P Jayarajan said the explosion happened when Vipin Raj was making firecrackers “for Christmas and New Year celebrations”. “I have not gone there myself, but our party leaders did. Based on what they told me, in the rural areas of Kannur, people traditionally do not buy firecrackers from shops during Christmas and New Year celebrations. They make them on their own, using coconut fronds and jute threads.”
In Venduttayi, he said, it was not a bomb blast. “What I understand is that the person was making a firecracker by winding jute thread around it. If it is tied too tightly, it can explode. If the person making it is inexperienced, such accidents can happen.”
He said people should not make firecrackers illegally, but insisted that what happened at Venduttayi was an accident. “An accident is now being portrayed as a bomb blast and preparation for violence,” Jayarajan said. He urged the media and opposition parties not to project it as an act of violence. Such interpretations, he said, would damage the peaceful atmosphere of Kannur. “Strengthening that peace is what the CPM wants and is working towards,” he said.
Jayarajan’s remarks come amid post-poll violence in Panoor, where country bombs were hurled during clashes between UDF and LDF workers after the local body election results. The violence followed the UDF wresting Panoor, a CPM bastion for over three decades.
Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan on Wednesday accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who also holds the Home portfolio, of reducing the police force to a “laughing stock”. “In the Chief Minister’s own village, a CPM worker lost his hand while handling a bomb. Yet the police claimed it was a firecracker accident. Do not reduce the police force to a laughing stock,” said Satheesan.
When party workers manufacture bombs to target political rivals, the Chief Minister’s police are seen shielding them, he said. “This is an insult to the police force,” he said.
He said the Chief Minister’s home district of Kannur saw a surge in violence following the CPM’s defeat in the local body polls. “In Payyannur and Panoor, CPM gangs are roaming with swords and hand-held bombs while the police remain mute spectators,” he said. “The people of Kerala will give a befitting reply. There is no doubt about that,” he said.