Road rage: Police give clean chit to mayor, MLA

Sources said the police did not arrest the mayor and her husband for lack of confirmation of the alleged offences.
Road rage: Police give clean chit to mayor, MLA
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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Cantonment police, in its report on the road rage incident in Palayam, have said that it could not be confirmed that Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran and her husband, Balussery MLA Sachin Dev, committed the offences alleged by the KSRTC driver.

The police filed the report on Tuesday before the Judicial First Class Magistrate (JFMC), following up on a complaint filed by driver H L Yedu. Sources said the police did not arrest the mayor and her husband for lack of confirmation of the alleged offences. The police said the allegation that the MLA trespassed into the bus was not true and it was Yedu who himself opened the hydraulic door after which the legislator entered the bus. Also, the witnesses did not testify the mayor and her husband used foul language against Yedu, the police report said.

However, the police said it managed to identify the fourth and fifth accused, who allegedly took part in the offence committed against Yedu, and a mahasar of the car which the mayor used at the time was prepared.

The report also said the CCTV footage of the incident — which happened in front of the Saphalyam Complex at Palayam — were recovered. The case will now be considered on October 29. Yedu had approached the court seeking a court-monitored probe on the case against the mayor, her husband, and three others.

The police were reluctant to register the case initially but were finally forced to do so after the magistrate’s court intervened. Yedu sought judicial intervention alleging that the cops were not carrying out the probe seriously. When the case was considered on October 10, the police did not present its report.

Yedu’s counsel said it was because of the strong intervention of the court that the police prepared the report and filed it within 12 days. The road rage incident involving the mayor and Yedu took place on April 27.

The mayor, along with her husband and the co-passengers in the car, blocked the bus and entered into a heated dispute with Yedu, alleging that he had made obscene gestures at her from his driving seat. Though Yedu was the first to lodge a complaint, the police registered a case of sexual harassment against Yedu based on the mayor’s complaint.

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