Akash Thillankeri, the main accused in the murder of Youth Congress activist Shuhaib and several other cases including gold smuggling, was arrested on Monday evening.
He and his friend Jijo Thillankeri were arrested by the Muzhakunnu police after they were classified as Known Rowdies under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act, 2007. They were sent to the Kannur Central jail by 4 a.m., Tuesday.
The arrest was made as per the special order of the District Collector. The Collector ordered the arrest on the recommendation of the District Police Chief (Rural) M. Hemalatha. The first accused in the Shuhaib murder case, Akash was granted bail on the condition that he should not get involved in other cases.
The court had earlier granted bail to both after they were accused in a case relating to insulting a DYFI woman leader.
The court had directed Akash to appear before the court on Tuesday. The police arrested him while the court was considering the plea filed by the prosecution seeking to cancel his bail on the grounds that he had violated the bail conditions.
Besides the Shuhaib murder case, Akash is accused in 12 cases including the murder of RSS activist Vineesh. Jijo is also accused in 10 cases.
The CPIM had removed Akash from the party after he was accused in the Shuhaib case. He and his associated had upset the party leadership with their controversial comments on social media. Following this the party had disowned them at a public meeting held at Thillankeri.
The KAAPA Act empowers the government to provisionally order the detention of any Known goonda or rowdy for six months to prevent them from committing any anti-social activities. The detention order can be revoked or modified by the Government anytime.
The detention order shall be referred to the advisory board within three weeks of the detention. The board will get nine weeks to review the decision. N. Anilkumar, former judge of the Kerala High Court, is the chairperson of the Board.
The board will hear the detenu as well as the detaining authority, the District Collector, and the sponsoring authority, the police, before deciding on the case. The findings of the board are binding on the government. Recently, the board had turned down the detention of Arjun Ayanki, a former DYFI activist and the key accused in the Karipur gold smuggling quotation, as the offence charged against him was not in the list of scheduled offences defined in the Act.
EOM
