Nava Kerala Yatra assault: Identification parade of accused conducted

Kottayam: The identification parade of five police officers, including the gunman of the former chief minister, who are accused of assaulting KSU and Youth Congress workers during the Nava Kerala Yatra, was done on Friday.Following the second day of questioning by the special investigation team (SIT), the identification parade was conducted at the Alappuzha crime branch office after summoning the complainants, MLA A D Thomas Youth Congress functionary Ajay Juval Kuriakose and news channel cameraman Jojimon Joseph, who captured the footage that day.They identified the accused Anilkumar, S Sandeep, V K Shaiju, R Arun and V V Vipin.At the same time, the ‘lathi-like weapon’ that the gunmen used to attack has not yet been found. Although the investigation team asked more questions about this on the second day, the statement was that the allotted lathi was returned to the concerned unit when the duty ended. The SIT’s finding is that what the accused used was not a lathi but a longer stick.In a case charged with attempt to murder, the weapons must be recovered in the presence of the accused as per the evidence law.

However, since it was not practical to reach Thiruvananthapuram from Alappuzha and find the weapon within the time limit prescribed by the court, this did not happen. At the same time, the SIT’s move is to issue a departmental-level notice to recover the weapons, retrieve them from the unit concerned and send them to the forensic lab for examination.With the identification parade completed, an evidence collection will be conducted with the accused on Saturday at the Alappuzha General Hospital junction, where the incident took place.MLA Thomas and Kuriakose said that the case investigation is satisfactory and that they would demand a special public prosecutor.