Armed with a Kerala high court directive, the Orthodox faction entered the church known as 'Piravom Valiyapalli', a major Christian spiritual centre in the state, two days after Ernakulam district administration took over its control fromrival Jacobite group.
A red alert was declared in 8 districts of Kerala on Thursday by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) as rains continued to lash various parts of the state and disrupted the day-to-day lives of the people as roads got flooded or caved in and many got displaced from their homes to relief camps.
The Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh police are sending special investigation teams to Kerala to assist the ongoing probe into the blast that rocked the Ernakulam district collectorate on July 10.The police teams from Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, which have witnessed terror attacks in the past, will share their expertise with the Kerala police. Central intelligence agencies suspect that some activists of the SIMI might have been involved in the blast.
The explosion that rocked the Ernakulam district collectorate on Friday was not an accident but a pre-planned blast, said state Director General of Police Jacob Punnose.It may be recalled that a pipe bomb had exploded in the fifth floor of the Ernakulam district collectorate and a Revenue Department official was injured in the incident.Punnose said that the investigation into the blast would be headed by Kochi Police Commissioner Manoj Abraham.
Noushad did not think twice while opening the sealed bundles of new clothes, kept in his godown for Eid, and donate it to the distressed people, who are living in relief camps after losing everything in the floods and massive landslides in north Kerala.
The 60-metre high 19-storey building, known as "Holy Faith H20, was levelled in seconds in a spectacular implosion.
In the government's first major mission to rescue Indians stranded in the strife-torn nation
The resisting Jacobite Bishops and priests courted arrest after the district collector, who reached there amid their forceful evacuation from the church, held talks with top leaders.
The incident is said to have occurred in the wee hours when a huge mound of earth fell on the 'row houses' and two children and five women were among the deceased, most of whom were plantation workers from neighbouring Tamil Nadu.
Explosives, weighing totally nearly 750 kgs, were used in a controlled manner to bring down the lakeside structures in Maradu, eight months after the apex court ordered their demolition for violation of the Coastal Regulation Zone norms.