An 18-year-old activist of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), who was injured in a clash with activists allegedly of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad at Dhanuvachapuram, near Parassala, on August 29, succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital here on Tuesday.
According to the police, Sajin Mohammed, son of Shahul Mohammed of Thannimmoodu, Amaravila, a second-year student of the Dhanuvachapuram Government Industrial Training Institute (ITI), suffered serious head injuries in the clash between the SFI and ABVP activists, during which petrol bombs too were reportedly hurled. The two organisations had been on a warpath in the region for quite some time now, the police said.
Neyyattinkara Deputy Superintendent of Police Y.R. Rustom said seven activists of the ABVP were arrested within a couple of days of the clash.
The charges against them, which included attempt to murder, would now be modified to murder, he said.
Meanwhile, SFI national president V. Sivadasan, in a statement here, said the death of Sajin was a continuation of the orchestrated violence unleashed on the SFI and other progressive organisations by ‘disciples of Narendra Modi.’
Mr. Sivadasan said all the culprits in the incident should be arrested immediately.
In a separate statement, the State Committee of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), condemned the killing, and accused the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) of carrying out frequent attacks on DYFI-SFI activists across the State. The failure of the police in curbing these had now resulted in the death of Sajin, the DYFI leaders said, adding that it was only a few days ago that a DYFI activist, Deepu, was killed by the RSS-Shiv Sena activists at Ottapalam.
Left organisations observed a hartal in protest against the murder at Neyyattinkara and Parassala on Tuesday while the SFI went on strike in educational institutions across the district. The protests would continue on Wednesday as well, its leaders said.
