Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 14 (PTI) Support is pouring infrom various quarters for a 29-year-old youth, who has beenlying in front of the Secretariat here for the past 766 days,demanding a CBI probe into his brother's alleged custodialdeath.
For the youth, Sreejith, who has been observing a sit-inprotest on the side walk in front of the Secretariat, housingthe offices of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, ministers andbureaucrats, his only mission is to bring those responsiblefor his brother, Sreejeev's death, to book.
Sreejith is on a hunger strike since the past eight days.
As the protest went viral on social media platform, people from various walks of life, especially youngsters, havebeen gathering in front of the secretariat to expresssolidarity holding 'Justice for Sreejith' banners.
They took out a march this morning with women alsoparticipating.
Congress leader V M Sudheeran and young Malayalam ActorTovino Thomas were among those who visited Sreejith andextended their support this morning.
The Congress and the BJP had yesterday sought urgentintervention of the union and state governments on the plea ofSreejith, who has been on an protest demanding CBI probe intothe death of his brother, who was taken into custody on theallegation of a mobile phone theft.
Leader of Opposition in the assembly Ramesh Chennithala,who visited Sreejith yesterday, urged the chief minister tointervene in the matter immediately as Sreejith's health wasdeteriorating.
Rajya Sabha MP and Vice Chairman of NDA in Kerala, RajeevChandrasekhar has also written to Union Home Minister RajnathSingh, seeking his urgent intervention by ordering the CBIprobe.
Sreejeev was taken into custody in May 2014 by Parassalapolice and the family was told two days later that he diedafter consuming poison.
Meanwhile, the state government has said it will againapproach the Centre seeking CBI investigation into the case.
Vijayan has directed the chief secretary to write to theUnion ministry in this regard, an official press release said.
The CBI had earlier informed the state government that itwas unable to take up the case and this stand should bere-examined, according to the government.
The Chief Minister's office said that the government was'sympathetic' to Sreejith's protest.
The government has already handed over a compensation ofRs 10 lakh to the family as directed by the Police ComplaintsAuthority.
The state police chief was also asked to collect theamount from the accused police officers. PTI UD ROHDV.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.