PALAKKAD: The arrests of all the 16 people who were allegedly involved in the lynching of Adivasi youth Madhu were formally registered by the Agali police on Saturday. The police had arrested 11 people earlier and by late evening, the remaining five were also arrested.
The accused have booked under various sections of the IPC as well as relevant sections of the SC/ST Act. The arrested have been identified as Aboobacker, Ubaid, Shamsudheen, Najeeb, Radhakrishnan, Jaijumon, Sidheeq, Hussein, Marakkar, Abdul Kareem, Aneesh, Sajeev, Hareesh, Biju, Muneer and Satheesh. The arrests were recorded after the post-mortem of Madhu’s body revealed that there were internal injuries on his head and body caused by the brutal assault. The accused will be produced in court on Sunday.
Ambulance ferrying Madhu’s body blocked
Earlier, the ambulance ferrying Madhu’s body from Thrissur Medical College after the post-mortem examination was blocked at Mukkali by locals, who demanded to see the accused. They raised doubts whether those arrested were the real culprits. However, the police and local leaders pacified them, allowing the ambulance to proceed. The body arrived at Mukkali by 2.30 pm and reached Agali 30 minutes later. A huge posse of police led by district police chief Pratheesh Kumar escorted the ambulance and held talks with Madhu’s family members. Madhu’s body was kept at Agali for Adivasis and locals to pay their last respects. The body was cremated in a ceremony attended by a large number of Adivasis. Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan and former KPCC president V M Sudheeran were among the leaders who visited Attappadi on Saturday.