Gun scare disrupts atheist meet hosting writer Taslima Nasrin in Kochi

KOCHI: A gun scare briefly disrupted the atheist conference, Essence, at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kochi on Sunday, hours before writer Taslima Nasrins scheduled appearance. Hundreds of participants were evacuated as a precautionary measure after a man was found carrying a firearm, which turned out to be a licensed one, the police said. After the Kochi city police and the bomb squad carried out a thorough security inspection at the venue, the event was allowed to resume, and Taslima attended the programme later in the evening without any hindrance. Though a man entered the venue with a licensed firearm, no suspicious items or activities were detected. The inspection was carried out as part of standard security protocol, and there was no further threat, said a source with the Kochi city police. The person carrying the firearm was identified as Ajish, a resident of Kadavanthra and the prime witness in the Tripunithura Vidhyadharan murder case. Since the weapon was legally licensed, no case was registered, and he was sent away from the venue, the officer said. Earlier, during a security check, bouncers assigned at the entrance discovered that Ajish was carrying a gun in his pouch and immediately alerted the event coordinators, who in turn called in the police. Ajish told the police that he was carrying his licensed firearm for self-protection, citing threats to his life. One of the delegates at the conference said the event was halted following an announcement made by the organisers. The conference began around 9 am. Around 11.15 am, while a debate between Ravichandran C and Sreejith Panickar was in progress, an announcement was made requesting everyones cooperation for a security check. We were asked to vacate the venue for inspection, and after a detailed check, registered delegates were allowed to re-enter, he said. Ernakulam Central Assistant Commissioner Sibi Tom said, The participants cooperated fully with the security checks. After completing the inspection, the programme resumed smoothly.