Four youth were arrested from Ochira in Kollam district on Thursday for allegedly sending provocative SMS messages to friends relating to the Ayodhya issue. Police said the four - Jayakumar, Subhash, Manu and Jijo - were arrested on Thursday morning and would be produced before the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court at Karunagappally.
Sending messages in connection with the Ayodhya verdict, to be pronounced later on Thursday by the Allahabad High Court, has been banned by the state administration. Despite civic election campaigns, curbs on holding rallies, public assemblies and raising of slogans have been enforced in Kerala for the next two days.
Special security has been accorded to places of worship including the famous hill shrine of Sabarimala.
Meanwhile, the Mumbai police rounded up nearly 3000 troublemakers in the city since Wednesday night, taking the total number of preventive arrests in view of the Ayodhya verdict to 7,000.
Till Wednesday, over 4,000 troublemakers were apprehended under preventive measures to avert any eventuality in the aftermath of the Allahabad high court verdict, said the police.
"Since last night, nearly 3000 more were picked up. We are leaving no stone unturned to maintain peace and harmony. All those picked up were categorised as troublemakers who may have caused law and order problem after the verdict," said Deputy Police Commissioner (Operations) Rajkumar Vhatkar.
The city had witnessed large-scale riots after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. Elaborate security arrangements have been made with security personnel equipped with guns, lathis and riot control equipment keeping a strict vigil across the city.
Besides the city police force, State Reserve Police Force, Rapid Action Force and Riot Control Force will be on the job to control the situation in case of any untoward incident, he said, adding elite forces such as the state's terror response teams Force One and Quick Response Teams have been kept on standby.
