Dance party at resort, cops arrest six persons in Kerala

IDUKKI:

Santhanpara police

on Monday arrested six persons in connection with a dance party which was held in a

private resort

on June 28 without following lockdown restrictions. The arrested are Thoppil Manu Krishna (28) of Vechoochira, C Babu Madhavan (49) of Udumbanchola, VE Kannan (50) of Santhanpara, T Basil Jose (35) of Kothamangalam and Soji K Francis (20) of Chemmannar.


The arrested persons, who are workers of the resort, were later released on bail, said Idukki police chief R Karuppasamy. “Police will probe if there were visa violation by the foreign national who performed the dance,” he said.

Meanwhile, CPM’s Idukki secretary KK Jayachandran denied the allegation that power minister MM Mani had allegedly inaugurated the metal and granite

factory

’s function.

“Certain persons are spreading fake news that power minister visited the spot and secured Rs 1 crore from the factory owner for charity works in CPM-led Udumbanchola panchayat. Mani did not attend the programme in person or get funds. He inaugurated the event via video conferencing. No member from Udumbanchola panchayat or from the CPM was present at

the controversial dance party

which was organized as part of the factory inauguration,” he said.

Udumbanchola panchayat president Sasikala Murukesan said that the firm owner had earlier offered Rs 1 crore to the panchayat for charity works. “But, panchayat had not taken a decision on accepting this offer. In the present scenario, we informed the owner that we will not accept any money from him,” she said, adding the panchayat committee will discuss the issue on Friday.

Santhanpara police had registered a case against Thannikkot metal and granite factory owner Jose Kurian and 47 others last week for violating Covid-19 guidelines by organizing a dance event on June 28.