A protest by residents of Rajaji Nagar in the city, when policemen from the Cantonment police station reached the colony for preparing a Mahassar in connection with the alleged suicide of a youngster, turned violent on Tuesday. Three policemen reported minor injuries after being pelted with stones.
A police party had reached the colony to prepare the Mahassar on the death of Jithu, 21, who had allegedly jumped off the fourth floor of a Kerala Cooperative Department building near the colony late Sunday. His death occurred soon after he was taken into custody by the police, allegedly in connection with a drunken brawl.
Over a 100 residents, including Jithu’s mother and other women, blocked the road alongside the colony alleging attempts to hush up the case. A report on the youth’s death that appeared in a vernacular daily, suggesting that he slipped and fell from the building, also fuelled the anger. The residents alleged that youth in the colony were being targeted by the police frequently and needlessly.
The policemen were pelted with soda bottles and stones. A motorist who tried to defy the blockade was attacked with tube-lights.
The people said Jomon, another youngster who was taken into custody along with Jithu, told them that both of them were arrested while they were riding a two-wheeler under the influence of alcohol. The police version was that they were arrested for public nuisance after drinking.
With the blockade held at a time the police were diverting traffic through the area owing to the Secretariat siege by the Bharatiya Janata Party, the situation remained tense for more than an hour. Additional reinforcements were brought in. The protesters were later pacified by district administration officials and local councillor S. Harikumar.
