The Kunnathunadu police on Wednesday arrested four persons in connection with the assault of a Dalit activist of the Twenty20 party at Kizhakkambalam.
The arrested were identified as Abdul Rahman, Zainudheen, Abdul Aziz, and Muhammed Basheer, all residents of Kizhakkambalam and neighbours of the victim. The Twenty20 alleged that the accused were CPI(M) activists.
Deepu C.K., a 33-year-old from a Dalit colony in ward 5, was allegedly assaulted by the accused on Saturday night. He wad admitted to a private hospital in Aluva on Monday before being put on ventilator support after his condition deteriorated despite a surgery after blood clots were detected in the brain.
“His continues to be on ventilator and his condition remains critical,” said hospital sources.
He was assaulted allegedly for participating in a 15-minute light-off protest called by the Twenty20 after the KSEB reportedly asked the panchayat to stop its “street light challenge” for replacing the old lights with new ones
The Kunnathunadu police have registered a First Information Report against the accused invoking IPC 307 (attempt to murder) and provisions of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The accused were produced before the court and remanded later in the night.
“We are not thinking about launching a protest or anything else at the moment but are fully concerned about the well-being of our worker,” said Mini Ratheesh, Twenty20 member and president of Kizhakkamabalam panchayat.
The Twenty20 alleged that Kunnathunadu MLA P.V. Sreenijin forced the KSEB to stop the project of replacing street lights, which the Twenty20 was implementing in four panchayats ruled by it. The MLA, however, denied the allegation saying that he wasn’t against the replacement of street lights but collecting funds from people for that in the name of street light challenge.
