KOLLAM: A CPM leader, who was absconding after the death of an ITI student in Thevalakara last week, was arrested on Thursday. The arrest of Sarasan Pillai, a branch secretary of CPM in Arinelloor, was recorded in the afternoon.
He is an accused number two in the assault and murder of Renju Krishnan alias Renjith, 18, of Chirakkalakkodu Kizhakkathil at Thevalakkara.The accused number one is Vineeth, a jail warden of Kollam jail. He was arrested a day after Renjith succumbed to injuries on February 28. He has since been suspended from service. Sarasan Pillai had been absconding since the death of the boy.
He was allegedly present at the house of Renjith when a gang of six assaulted the teenager as an act of moral policing on February 14.The gang roughed up the boy in front of his mother in the night for having ‘an affair’ with a girl who is related to Vineeth.
Renjith suffered head injuries and was treated at Kollam taluk hospital and later at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram. He succumbed to injuries at Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital. The post-mortem report said internal bleeding was the cause of the death. Renjith, while undergoing treatment at the taluk hospital, had told that he was innocent and it was a case of mistaken identity.A student with ITI in Chandanathoppe, Ranjith is survived by parents, Radhakrishna Pillai and Rajani, and a brother.