The police arrested U Pushparaj, a local committee member of the CPM and opposition leader in the Kannur Municipal Council, in connection with the forcible release of the SFI workers from police custody at the Town police station here a few days ago.
Pushparaj was arrested from his house at Thayyil early on Wednesday.
It was on June 27 that Pushparaj, along with two other leaders of the party, went to the Kannur Town police station and took away the SFI workers who were taken into custody following violence during the collectorate march. The march was organised by the Students Federation of India (SFI) demanding cancellation of the agreement made by the government with the managements of self-financing professional colleges.
The police had resorted to lathicharge and used teargas to disperse the violent groups.
Some of the leaders were arrested and taken to the town station.
According to the police, the SFI workers were taken away by CPM leaders K P Sahadevan, N Chandran, Vayakkady Balakrishnan, O K Bineesh and U Pushparaj.
The District Superintendent of Police Rahul R Nair had suspended some of the cops on duty at the station in connection with the incident.
O K Bineesh, president of the District Sports Council, was arrested earlier. His petition for bail had also been rejected by the court. The raids conducted by the police on the houses of the CPM leaders had evoked protests from the CPM leadership here.
The police had planned to arrest U Pushparaj during a meeting of the municipal council last week. But Pushparaj allegedly managed to escape jumping the walls of the municipal office.
CPM state committee member K P Sahadevan and Vayakkadi Balakrishnan are yet to be arrested.