ALAPPUZHA: SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan has been made the first accused in the FIR registered by Mararikulam police in connection with the suicide of the yogam’s Kanichukulangara union secretary K K Mahesan in 2020.
Mararikulam SHO G Sureshkumar said Vellappally’s aide K L Ashokan and son Thushar Vellappally have been arraigned as second and third accused, respectively, in the FIR submitted before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Alappuzha.
“The police have started taking statements from the complainants and accused persons,” he said. Meanwhile, Vellappally said the case was a ploy by some persons to remove him and Thushar from the leadership of the yogam.
The FIR was registered following the court’s order issued on Wednesday on the petition filed by Mahesan’s wife Usha Devi P alleging laxity by the police in the probe. She had alleged that though Mahesan’s suicide mentioned the names of Vellappally, Thushar and Ashokan, the police did not probe their involvement.
Sureshkumar said they have registered a case under Sections 306 (abetment of suicide), 120B (criminal conspiracy), and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC.
Mahesan was found dead in the SNDP Kanichukulangara union office on June 24, 2020. A former close aide of Vellappally, he had also been state coordinator of the yogam’s controversial microfinance scheme and had been questioned by the crime branch several times in cases related to the misappropriation of the microfinance funds.
In a presser later in the day, Vellappally claimed the new case had been registered after the petitioners misled the court and received a favourable order.