A nine-member group of suspected left extremists on Monday attacked the corporate office of a gelatin company, Nitta Gelatin India ltd, at Panambilli Nagar in Kochi damaging glass walls, computers and vehicles. The group of masked men allegedly raising Maoist slogans carried out the attack at around 8.00 am on Monday, according to the police and the office’s security guard.
MR Ajithkumar, Inspector General of Police (Ernakulam Range), said that the attack was perhaps carried out by left extremists and they had left behind a two-page note in Malayalam. The security guard said that one of the group was speaking in Malayalam while the others were using Hindi and that they had raised Maoist slogans during the attack.
The men had been wearing jeans and shirts and all of them had covered their faces with handkerchiefs. Almost the entire attack had been recorded by the CCTV system at the office. The group, carrying iron rods, smashed the glass windowpanes and damaged some computers at the office and some vehicles parked in the office compound.
The letter left behind by the group said that there was a need to take action against the company which was causing pollution from its factory at Kathikudam in Thrissur district.