THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: “This would have never occurred in Kerala” was the reaction many gave when a fake picture of Gujarat riots circulated on WhatsApp triggered a riot in West Bengal earlier this month. However, police officials, who tracked the sporadic attacks by CPM-BJP activists at various geographical locations of Thiruvananthapuram believes messaging applications were the flashpoint of violence. Later on Sunday, State Police chief Loknath Behera, also said that the monitoring on social media sites and WhatsApp groups would be intensified.
“Soon after the attack at Manacaud area, an attack takes placec at Kunnukuzhy 5 km away. Another attack happened at Maruthankuzhy located 5.5 km away. Attacks in each locality seemed to have been staged by local guys. This means there would have been tight coordination between all these groups that continue even after midnight. Each side was able to assemble 8 to 10 workers in respective areas. WhatsApp and Facebook messenger might have been used,” said a senior police official.
As per cyber cell officials, presently, infiltrating into party WhatsApp groups is the only option to contain the menace. “We have sources and sometimes police officers in WhatsApp groups of most political parties. So, we directly ring up the administrators and warn them of action if we find anything that could incite violence,” said a Hi-tech cell official. Enforcement on social media sites like Facebook were much easier as they could be hacked or taken down easily, officials added.
