KOZHIKODE: The NIA Special Court in Ernakulam has dismissed the plea of Maoist Roopesh to allow him a minute to pay homage to deceased Jesuit priest Stan Swamy before starting the trial of a case on Tuesday. Roopesh, presently at Viyyur central jail, submitted the petition through the jail superintendent before the trial of a UAPA case came up through video conference.
In the petition, Roopesh said that Stan Swamy inspired him to inculcate commitment for the poor and downtrodden masses and Swamy’s demise had caused serious anxiety and concern to him.
Roopesh and others are undergoing trial in a case registered under Vellamunda police station in Wayanad wherein Maoists allegedly threatened a cop at gunpoint in April 2014.
Roopesh is the first accused in the case. Though there are reports that Roopesh and other Maoist prisoners at Viyyur jail are observing hunger strike protesting the ‘institutional murder’ of Swamy, the jail authorities dismissed it. “No hunger strike by prisoners happened in the jail,” said Viyyur jail superintendent A G Suresh.