By Express News Service

KOTTAYAM: The police team probing a case registered in connection with the illegal firearm manufacturing unit in Pallickathodu, arrested one more person on Wednesday. Vijayan, 57, who hails from Anickad near Pallickathodu was arrested for buying a revolver from the prime accused Manesh Kumar and Rajan, who manufactured firearms illegally.

The police also recovered the revolver from Vijayan, who is a BJP loyalist and a board member of an RSS-run school in Pallickathodu. Vijayan bought the revolver for `7,000 from Bineesh Kumar, another accused in the case. With this, police recovered two revolvers and one-and-a-half kg of gun powder. Earlier, the accused had confessed that they sold out more than 15 guns so far. During interrogation, the accused are learnt to have revealed names of some high-profile persons, including police officers, who bought revolvers or rifles from them. It was on Monday night that police arrested four persons, Manesh, his brother Rajan, Bineesh and Ratheesh Chandran, after conducting a raid on an ‘ala’ (the workplace of blacksmiths) in Pallickathodu, that was run by Manesh and Bineesh.

The police also seized various parts of a rifle, besides raw materials such as iron rods, wooden butts and equipment, including grinders, that were used to make the firearms from the unit. Police recovered a revolver from Ratheesh in an ensuing search. During interrogation, the accused revealed that they had supplied rifles and revolvers to some goonda gangs in Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta. The cops got information about the unit when the gun makers approached a welding workshop to assemble a rifle.