KOCHI: A day after DYFI block vice-president M M Jinesh suffered stab wounds during a clash between BJP and CPM activists at Vaduthala, the police on Friday arrested nine BJP workers in connection with the incident.
The arrested have been identified as Binoj, 42, Murugan, 34, Anu Das, 41, Sasi Kumar, 54, Shyju, 39, all natives of Vaduthala, and Renjith, 28, Binil, 53, and Abhiju Suresh, 42, all hailing from Pachalam, and Rajagopal, 36, of Kaloor.
A clash broke out between CPM and BJP activists around 10.30 pm on Thursday while both the parties were taking out a protest march at Vaduthala. The march took a violent turn after the activists engaged in a heated argument over damaging BJP flag posts.
“Jinesh and other DYFI activists were attacked by BJP activists while they were coming out of the party office,” said a police officer attached to the North Police Station.
The arrested activists have been charged under Section 307 (attempt to murder) of IPC. They were produced in a local court, which remanded them in 14-day judicial custody.
Hartal peaceful
The dawn-to-dusk hartal called by CPM in the region on Friday passed off peacefully. Many police personnel were deployed at Vaduthala to prevent any untoward incident.