Kannur (Keralam) [India], August 21 : The Kannur district administration has ordered preventive detention under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act (KAAPA) against 29-year-old Arjun Ayanki, citing his alleged involvement in nine criminal cases over the past seven years.
The order was issued after the Kannur District Police Chief (City) recommended action under KAAPA and was approved by District Collector P Vishnuraj. The authorities said Ayanki had posed a threat to society and that there was a likelihood of him continuing criminal activities if released on bail. He is currently in judicial custody.
Ayanki has been involved in several criminal cases and has been linked by police investigations to gold smuggling and gold robbery networks.
He first came into the spotlight in 2021 in connection with a gold smuggling investigation following the Ramnattukara highway accident, in which five people were killed. Customs investigators had questioned him in connection with a case involving a carrier allegedly carrying 2.33 kg of gold intended to be handed over to him.
Police have also accused Ayanki of being a key conspirator in a 2023 case involving the alleged abduction and robbery of a gold merchant in Palakkad's Meenakshipuram.
According to the police case, a gang intercepted a private bus, subjected and assaulted the merchant, and allegedly stole 75 sovereigns of gold, money and a mobile phone.
More recently, Ayanki was arrested following a statewide police search in connection with a cybercrime case registered over alleged abusive and threatening social media posts targeting Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and police officers.
Police have also been investigating whether questioning Ayanki could help uncover wider gold smuggling and gold robbery networks operating in the State.
The police had earlier begun preparations to invoke KAAPA against Ayanki, with authorities compiling his previous criminal cases and other records while he remained in judicial custody.
This is not the first time KAAPA proceedings have been initiated against Ayanki. In 2022, a previous KAAPA detention exclusion order against him was later set aside by the KAAPA Advisory Board, which held that the customs gold smuggling case could not be relied upon for KAAPA action under the circumstances then before it.
Police had arrested Ayanki on August 9, after a search lasting more than two days and took him into custody from a hideout in Kannur, officials said.
According to Kannur City Police Commissioner Vijaya Bharath Reddy, IPS, Ayanki was arrested by a police team led by the Northern Range Deputy Inspector General (DIG).
Police on Saturday said Ayanki had been staying at an apartment in Kannur city along with a friend. When the police team reached the apartment, he allegedly attempted to escape but was unsuccessful.