Man held for planting explosives at neighbour's house in Kerala's Wayanad

Wayanad (Kerala), Sep 7 (PTI) A 41-year-old man was arrested for allegedly planting explosives and keeping liquor at his neighbour's house in Pulpally here to implicate him in a false case, police said on Sunday.

The accused has been identified as Prasad P S, a native of Marakkadavu in Pulpally.

According to police, they had earlier arrested Prasad's neighbour Augustine alias Thankachan (54) on August 23 after seizing 20 packets of banned liquor sourced from Karnataka and 15 explosives known as thotta (used for fish hunting) from his house.

The contraband was recovered from a packet kept under a car parked in Thankachan's premises, police said.

He was later remanded and remained in jail.

However, based on CCTV footage and mobile phone records, investigators later found that it was Prasad who had placed the items there.

During interrogation on Saturday, Prasad allegedly confessed to the crime, admitting that he acted out of personal enmity.

He was arrested on Sunday, while Thankachan was released from jail following a court order.

After his release, Thankachan accused police of "negligence", saying he was "falsely implicated" due to political rivalry.

"We had told police that the explosives and liquor were not ours. Still, they rushed to arrest me without investigation. I was in jail for 17 days for no reason," he said.

He further alleged that the case was the fallout of infighting in the Congress party.

Thankachan is a ward president of the Congress party.

"There is a major conspiracy. The arrested person is only a pawn. I suspect the involvement of Congress district leaders, including DCC president N D Appachan," Thankachan alleged.

Police said they would also probe the political angle, though Prasad has so far cited personal enmity as the reason for the act. PTI TBA KH