The Cantonment police on Monday registered a second case against Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran, her husband, K.M. Sachin Dev, MLA, and three others in connection with their altercation with Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) driver H.L. Yadhu over a week ago.
The group was booked following a direction by the Thiruvananthapuram Judicial First Class Magistrate Court III which had considered the driver’s plea earlier in the day.
Ceding to the complainant’s demand, the police initiated legal proceedings under non-bailable provisions. The five persons have been booked under Sections 353 (using criminal force or assault to prevent a public servant from performing their duties), 447 (criminal trespass), 341 (wrongful restraint), 294(b) (uttering obscenities), 201 (causing evidence of offence to disappear) and 34 (acts by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, in addition to the Motor Vehicle Act.
Notably, the first information report, registered on Mr. Yadhu’s complaint, charges the Mayor and the others with exerting influence to destroy the memory card in the digital video recorder unit of a CCTV camera on the bus, among other offences.
The development comes two days after the City police booked the group on the basis of a complaint by a Kochi-based advocate. They were charged under bailable provisions including those pertaining to causing obstruction to a person in a public place and wrongful assembly.
