KOCHI: A 38-year-old member of Twenty20 Kizhakkambalam, who had been undergoing treatment at a hospital after he was allegedly assaulted by a group of CPM workers, died on Friday. After suffering serious head injuries in the attack on last Saturday, Deepu C K was on ventilator support at a private hospital in Aluva and died around noon.
Deepu, who belonged to the Scheduled Caste community, was a resident of Ward 5 of Kizhakkambalam panchayat. Police said he was allegedly beaten up by a group of four CPM workers following a quarrel in connection with a "lights-off" protest organised by Twenty20. In the attack, he suffered serious head injuries that caused blood clots in the brain.
Twenty20 conducted the streetlight challenge at Kizhakkambalam panchayat to replace old street lamps with new ones. However, the KSEB came out against the challenge and directed the panchayat ruled by Twenty20 to stop the campaign. To protest against the high-handedness of the KSEB, Twenty20 called for a 15-minute stir by switching off lights at all households in the panchayat and Deepu was assaulted by the CPM workers for taking part in the challenge.
Based on the complaint filed by the Twenty20, Kunnathunad police registered a case and arrested four persons in connection with the incident. The arrested were Abdul Rahman (36), Sainudheen (27), Abdul Aziz (42) and Muhammed Basheer (36). Police said all were neighbours of Deepu.