THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The man who set the Vellarada village office on fire on Thursday was arrested by the police squad from Adoor where he was hiding with the help of some of his accomplices. The accused, identified as Sam Kutty, a native of Vellarada, claimed that he committed the act due to the red-tapism of some village officials who were injured in his attack.
Sam Kutty, a rubber tapper, was said to be an ex-paramilitary officer. A special squad under Neyyattinkara DySP M.A. Naseer and District Crimes Records Bureau (DCRB) DySP T. Ajith Kumar identified him with the help of cyber cell.
As per the police, Kutty had approached the village office located at Anappara for mutation of his ancestral property.
However, the village officials pointed out some legal hurdles. Kutty who had to frequent the village office repeatedly became frustrated. On Thursday, he mixed petrol and kerosene and set out to take revenge.
“He wore a rain coat and helmet and splashed the flammable liquid on to the floor and set it on fire before locking the sole door of the office. He threw away his coat near Arattukuzhi. We found this and there was a torn piece of paper with a mobile number of one his acquaintances. Though some digits were missing, the cyber cell managed to identify the suspect and we traced him to Adoor,” said DySP Nazar.
