THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former legislator and Youth Congress state vice-president KS Sabrinadhan has been arrested by Valiyathura police in connection with a conspiracy to protest against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan inside an IndiGo flight on June 13.
Earlier, the Valiyathura police had registered an attempt to murder case (Section 307 of Indian Penal Code) against two Youth Congress (YC) workers Farseen Majeed and Naveen Kumar who staged the protest inside the flight when it landed at Thiruvananthapuram airport from Kannur.
In a setback to the LDF government in the state, a court here granted bail to Sabarinathan later in the day.
The court, while granting bail, directed him to appear before the investigating officer in the next three days for interrogation and produce his mobile phone if required by the investigating officer.
He has also been asked to furnish a bail bond of Rs 50,000.
Emerging from the court after securing bail, Sabarinadhan, flanked by Congress MLAs P C Vishnunath and Shafi Parambil, lashed out at Chief Minister Vijayan calling him a "coward" who fears people's protest and alleged that the state under his rule has become a "banana republic.
Sabarinadhan was summoned to appear before DK Prithviraj, Assistant commissioner of police of Shankhumukham on Tuesday at 10.30 am. The arrest was recorded at 10.50 am after an interrogation. He was charged under Section 120b ( Punishment of criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code.
Earlier a screenshot of the WhatsApp message by Sabarinadhan calling for a protest inside airlines was doing rounds on social media. In an official WhatsApp group of Youth Congress, Sabarinadhan had prompted the YC members to carry out a protest by waving black flags at the chief minister on the flight.
Following this, the two YC workers staged a protest inside the flight. The protest was part of the allegations against the chief minister based on the revelations made by gold smuggling accused Swapna Suresh.
On Monday, the internal inquiry committee of IndiGo flight imposed a travel ban on the YC workers for two weeks and LDF convener EP Jayarajan for three weeks for pushing them down in the flight.
"It was a peaceful protest. The YC workers raised slogans like "Protest, Protest" only. I will cooperate with the probe. But the police remained silent on the violation by Jayarajan. The government and police are acting like cowards, " Sabarinadhan told the media.
According to Shafi Parambil MLA, Youth Congress president, the arrest was unjustifiable. "Sabarinadhan was summoned as a witness in the case as per Section 160. The anticipatory bail by Sabarinadhan was about to be considered at 11 am. But he was arrested at 10.50 am. So it is illegal and the chief minister is a cowardly dictator. Similarly, no case has been taken against EP Jayarajan. If YC workers committed level 1 crime, Jayarajan committed level 2 offence, " he said.
(With PTI inputs)