Four CPI(M) workers in custody for abducting woman councillor

Kochi: Four CPI(M) workers were taken into custody on Monday for abducting a woman councillor, who also belongs to the ruling Marxist party, police said.

Arun Mohan (40), Tony Baby (34), Prince Varghese (42), and Sajith Abraham (40), all local CPI(M) activists, are in custody.

The abducted woman is a Koothattukulam Municipality councillor and she was freed on Saturday, the same day of her abduction.

“The suspects, who were identifiable persons in the FIR, were apprehended based on CCTV footage, and a detailed investigation is underway,” said a senior official of the Koothattukulam police station.

He added that their arrests will be recorded, and they will be produced before the court on Tuesday morning.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) released a video, in which the woman councillor purportedly said the Congress had given her 'offer' to repay her loan in a co-operative bank controlled by the grand old party.

Amid allegations by the Congress-led UDF about the laxity of police, authorities replaced Muvattupuzha Dy SP, P M Baiju with Aluva DySP, T R Rajesh.

This action followed Ernakulam District police chief Vaibhav Saxena’s direction for a report from the ASP in this regard. Saxena also ordered the Special Branch Deputy SP to carry out a parallel probe.

Further action would depend on the findings of these reports, police sources said. The Koothattukulam police have registered four separate cases in connection with the incident.

The CPI(M) on Sunday rejected the allegation of abduction by the party councillor (ahead of a no-confidence motion moved in the Koothattukulam Municipality here) and ruled out physical assault.

A day after the incident, the Marxist party said the woman councillor, Kala Raju, and her children had been allegedly abducted by the Congress leaders and workers.

Dramatic scenes unfolded outside the LDF-ruled Municipality on Saturday ahead of the motion moved by the opposition UDF, as Raju, a CPI(M) woman councillor, was allegedly abducted in broad daylight upon her arrival to vote in the motion.

The Koothattukulam municipality is governed by the LDF, which has 13 members, while the opposition UDF has 11 members. There is also one independent member in the 25-member council.