Idukki (Kerala): Police have arrested a local Mandal committee president of the Youth Congress party accusing him of stabbing Dheeraj Rajendran, a Students Federation of India (SFI) activist at Idukki Engineering College on Monday.
The eyewitnesses had told the police that Youth Congress Mandal president, Nikhil Paili was seen running away from the spot, soon after Dheeraj was stabbed.
Police caught him, tracing his mobile phone location while traveling in a bus at Karimanal in the Idukki district. Police claimed that Nikhil has confessed to the crime. Police have also picked up five more Kerala Students Union (KSU) activists in the case.
Meanwhile, cases of clashes between SFI, KSU, Youth Congress, and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) workers have been reported in various places in Kerala as rallies to protest the killing of the SFI activist at Idukki Engineering College turned volatile.
Eight students sustained injuries when SFI and KSU activists clashed at Maharajas College in Ernakulam. SFI activists damaged the flag post of KSU in Pathanamthitta and Youth Congress and DYFI activists clashed near the venue of a Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President K Sudhakaran's program at Malappuram.
In Kollam, the protestors damaged the car of the Member of Parliament and Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) leader NK Premachandran's official vehicle.
At Taliparamba in Kannur, which is the native of the slain SFI activist Dheeraj Rajendran, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) party workers vandalized the Congress party office during a protest march.
Earlier on Monday, an SFI activist was stabbed to death at the Idukki Engineering College following a clash with KSU clash on Monday around 1 pm, police said.
Dheeraj, a native of Kannur and a final-year engineering student, was stabbed, allegedly by opposite gang members outside the campus after they clashed over a dispute in college union elections.
The Police said that college election work was going on in the college for the last few days thus there were minor issues between both student organizations. Dheeraj was shifted to the medical college but could not be saved.
Two more students have suffered serious injuries and are admitted to Idukki Medical College Hospital and the condition of one is said to be critical, said the police.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a Facebook post, "Murder of Dheeraj Rajendran, a student of Govt Engineering College, Idukki & an SFI activist, is extremely sad & condemnable. Attempts to create riots in colleges will not be allowed. Police have been directed to bring Dheeraj's killers before the law."
SFI students have alleged that some of the Youth Congress party members were the ones who stabbed Dheeraj. The students clashed in front of the District Panchayat Office. The students have told the police that the accused was a native of Maniyaran Kudi in Idukki.
Cheruthoni police have registered a case and further investigations are on. The tension prevails in the area following the clash and police forces have been deployed to avoid further clashes.
Meanwhile, hundreds of students and local Left leaders, including MLAs, have gathered at the Idukki Medical college where the body of the student activist has been kept.
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