The Medical College police here on Saturday arrested 93-year-old human rights activist A. Vasu in connection with a protest he took part in seven years ago against alleged extrajudicial police killings of two Maoists. Police sources said the arrest was recorded as part of executing a long-pending warrant against the elderly activist popularly known as ‘GROW’ Vasu.
Mr. Vasu was part of the protest staged in front of the Medical College Hospital mortuary in November 2016 over the encounter killings of Koppam Devarajan, a central committee member of CPI(Maoist) and Ajitha, alias Kaveri, in the Karulai range of the Nilambur south forest division. Mr. Vasu had appeared near the mortuary along with other activists when the bodies of the slain Maoist leaders were shifted to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital for a post-mortem examination.
Mr. Vasu, who was part of the Naxalite movements in the 1960s and had undergone imprisonment for about seven years, had demanded a judicial inquiry into the incident during the protest. He had also alleged obscurity in the police narrative, apart from expressing suspicion over the attempt to cover up the incident from the media.
In the latest case, he has been charged under Sections 141 (punishment for unlawful assembly) and 353 (punishment for causing obstruction to the duty of a public servant). Police sources said the activist would be granted bail on completion of the proceedings.
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