Two persons, including the former mandal president of the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha, have been arrested by the Chengannur police on Friday for hacking a man's arm, allegedly because he questioned them for passing lewd comments about his cousin.
The incident took place at Kota Junction near Aranmula late on Wednesday night when Abhilash, 25, was returning home in an auto-rickshaw from the shop he runs at Aranmula. Along with eight others, Adeep B. Chandran and his friend Sunil allegedly attacked Abhilash, because he had locked horns with them in June after they passed the comments.
So brutal was the assault that the right arm of Abhilash was nearly cut off and could be re-attached only after an 11-hour surgery at the Kottayam Medical College. Abhilash's mother Vijayakumari and uncle Podiyan, and Podiyan's wife Usha and sister-in-law Shantakumari sustained injuries when they tried to rescue Abhilash.
Adeep is the former mandal president of the Bharatiya Yuva Morcha and several of his accomplices are RSS-BJP activists. Abhilash is said to be a CPI(M) sympathiser. The police have ruled out any political motive in the attack.
The police are on the lookout for eight of Adeep's accomplices, including Manoj, who is said to have hatched the plan.
