THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Giving yet another twist to the road rage controversy, the Thiruvanannthapuram city police on Thursday refused to initiate action on the complaint lodged by the KSRTC driver against Mayor Arya Rajendran and her husband K M Sachin Dev, MLA, for allegedly obstructing his duty, resulting in the cancellation of the trip. However, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission (KSHRC) has registered a case based on the complaint by driver B L Yadhu.
Meanwhile, Kovalam MLA and Transport Democratic Federation president M Vincent warned that he would move the court of law if the state government shied away from initiating action against those police officials who refused to act on Yadhu’s complaint. The memory card of the CCTV cameras installed on the bus went missing the other day adding a new dimension to the entire episode. The loss was detected by KSRTC officials.
Following a complaint by the Transport Officer, Thampanoor police have launched a probe and started collecting details of the KSRTC officials who had access to the bus after the incident. The memory card possibly had visuals captured by three cameras installed on the bus - one each on the dashboard, rear side and behind the driver’s cabin facing the passengers. The camera footage could have revealed whether there was a race between the bus and the car and if anyone had forcefully evicted the passengers, as Yadhu alleged. However, the cameras were not positioned to record the lewd gesture allegedly made by the driver, which Arya claimed was the main cause of the incident. Panel seeks reports from police, KSRTC
City Police Commissioner C Nagaraju said the bus had operated a Thrissur trip after the incident. “We have to get the statements of the staff who operated the trip. We will also prepare a list of those who work in the Thampanoor depot and have access to the bus. Their statements will also be recorded,” he said.
A police source said Yadhu filed the petition against the mayor and the MLA as a counter to Arya’s complaint. “It’s his normal defensive mechanism when in trouble. He had employed the same strategy on at least two occasions in the past — once when he was accused of committing serious offence against a woman and the other against a differently abled man. In both cases, the victims withdrew their complaint after Yadhu filed counter-petitions. He is resorting to the same tactics here,” the source said.
The KSHRC has sought reports from the police and the KSRTC on the action taken on Yadhu’s complaint. It has posted the case for hearing on May 9. Meanwhile, the City Cyber police have registered two cases for alleged cyber attacks on the mayor.
Satheesan alleges conspiracy behind missing memory card from bus
Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan has alleged a political conspiracy behind the missing memory cards from the CCTV cameras fixed inside the KSRTC bus that was waylaid by Mayor Arya Rajendran. He has also demanded the police register a case against the mayor and her relatives for stopping the bus from plying and urging passengers to leave. Satheesan alleged that Arya and her husband, Balussery MLA Sachin Dev, deliberately removed the memory card to escape the wrath of the people or else their claims would sound hollow.
