Kerala police on Tuesday arrested Youth Congress vice president and former MLA K.S. Sabarinadhan on the charge of plotting the alleged attempt on the life of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on board an IndiGo aircraft that landed in Thiruvananthapuram from Kannur on June 3.
A magistrate court granted him bail with a surety of ₹50,000. Two persons stood as guarantors. The court asked Mr. Sabarinadhan to surrender his mobile phone to the police for digital forensic analysis.
WhatsApp message
The prosecutor argued that Mr. Sabarinadhan’s WhatsApp communication indicated his guilt. The magistrate ordered Mr. Sabarinadhan to appear before the investigating officer on July 20, 21 and 22. The Youth Congress leader spend the better part of the day in police custody.
CPI(M) workers protested against Mr. Sabarinadhan outside the Vanchiyoor court. The police was deployed in strength to prevent a confrontation. A large crowd of Congress workers hailed his release on bail.
Oppn. charge
Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan said Mr. Sabarinadhan's arrest on trumped-up charges was a desperate bid by Mr. Vijayan to divert attention from the scandals dogging him and his family.
He said Saji Cherian's anti-Constitution speech, M.M. Mani's misogynist comments on K.K. Rema, MLA, the SFI attack on Rahul Gandhi's office in Wayanad, and the firecracker explosion outside the AKG centre were all part of the political gambit.
Such tricks would not dissuade the UDF from agitating for a CBI inquiry into the gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh’s allegations against Mr. Vijayan and his family.
CM in Assembly
Earlier in the Assembly, Mr. Vijayan quoted the WhatsApp message that “incriminated” Mr. Sabarinadhan: “Chief Minister is travelling to Thiruvananthapuram from Kannur by air. If two persons board the flight and stage a black flag protest, they cannot be thrown out of the aircraft.”
Mr. Vijayan termed the message a call to violence befitting extremist outfits. The Youth Congress had deployed a person accused in 19 criminal cases for the task. “And, Mr. Satheesan calls the accused an innocent child,” he said.
Mr. Vijayan said LDF convener E. P. Jayarajan had blocked the "assailants", and the law insulated him from criminal exposure.
Mr. Vijayan said the IndiGo airline's three-week ban on Mr. Jayarajan was one-sided, arbitrary and delivered ex-parte. It failed to ensure passenger security and violated civil aviation norms. The airline had aided the accused.
Meanwhile, transport authorities impounded an IndiGo bus in Kozhikode for “defaulting” on motor tax.
Published - July 19, 2022 09:06 pm IST
