Kozhikode: The killer gangs in Kannur adopt the cruellest forms of attacks against their opponents. They dismember their limbs to make the rest of their lives most miserable. The killers’ latest modus operandi has been brought to light through the hacking of Youth Congress leader Suhaib recently.
The attackers would put soil into the wounds of the victim’s body after hacking to ensure his death. Soil would ensure that medical science cannot save his life. A notorious party henchman, who practised this method, was himself killed by the assailants of the rival party under Chokli police limits in 1995. The same happened in the case of another man whose legs were chopped off below knees at Uruvachal and the severed parts were put in mud. The swords and choppers are made with curved edges so that the assailant can twist the weapon inside the body of the victim and damage the internal organs, thus eliminating any hope of life. “These are all techniques used by trained persons,” said a forensic surgeon in Thalassery who has examined many slain victims.
Another method is to pour chemicals on the weapon so that the injury never heals. “I was subjected to such an attack seven years back. No treatment has completely healed the wound till now as the attackers had rubbed chemical on the weapon. They themselves had shouted it while pouncing on me. Doctors say that some chemical had entered my blood,” said a 50-year old former active political worker at Dharmadam. He is now under ayurveda treatment and takes winter melon juice as a last resort. “Lucky are the killed ones. The sufferings of the critically injured are beyond words,” he rued.
Over the years, the killing spree has witnessed a paradigm shift with the quotation gangs taking over the work from the cadres. Police say that most of the henchmen in the quotation gangs are drug addicts. “At present the only teams which keep off drugs while doing the ‘operation’ are religious fundamentalists,” said a cop.
