Protest over seizure of answer sheets from SFI leader

There are mounting protests in Kerala over the seizure of university answer sheets from an SFI leader's house and the top ranks secured by SFI leaders in police recruitment tests.

The Opposition accused the Left Front government in Kerala of trying to protect leaders of its students' organisation and sought Kerala Governor P Sathasivam's intervention. The Governor on Friday summoned Kerala University vice-chancellor V P Mahadevan Pillai and Kerala Public Service Commission chairman M K Sakeer to discuss the issue.

The Opposition, Congress-led United Democratic Front, has launched statewide protests demanding CBI probe into the fresh developments, while the Congress' student wing, the Kerala Students Union, is carrying out aggressive agitations across the state over the last couple of days. KSU state president K M Abhijith is also on an indefinite fast in front of government secretariat.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, who led a delegation of the Opposition to the Raj Bhavan on Friday, alleged that attempts were even made to sabotage the probe by Kerala University into the seizure of answer sheets from SFI leader's house. Only CPM members were included in a syndicate sub-committee formed to probe into the incident, he said.

The university answer sheets were recovered from the house of SFI leader R Sivaranjith, who is accused of stabbing a student at the University College in Thiruvananthapuram last week. Sivaranjith and couple of other SFI leaders also secured top ranks in a police constable recruitment rank list.

These incidents had damaged the credibility of the institutions, the Opposition alleged.

Even Kerala Governor had earlier termed the developments 'very disturbing'.

The CPM, which is in the defensive over the developments, on Friday observed that miscreants were intruding into the SFI and creating trouble. The CPM state committee also wanted the SFI leadership to be alert.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Police on Friday recovered the knife used for stabbing degree student Akhil Chandran at the University College in Thiruvananthapuram from the college premises. SFI leaders of the college, R Sivaranjith and A N Naseem, who are the key accused in the murder attempt case, were brought to the college for evidence collection.