Kerala AKG Centre attack suspect in custody of Crime Branch

Jithin is the mandalam president of Youth Congress at Attipra in Thiruvananthapuram district and Crime Branch officials said he would be produced before a magistrate court later.

Thiruvanathapuram: Nearly three months after an explosive was hurled at AKG Centre, the CPI(M) state headquarters at Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram, the police on Thursday arrested Youth Congress worker Jithin Kalathur saying he had confessed to the crime.

Kalathur is the mandalam president of Youth Congress at Attipra in Thiruvananthapuram district and Crime Branch officials said he would be produced before a magistrate court later.

On June 30, a person on a two-wheeler arrived near the gate of AKG Centre, hurled an object – it was later identified as a firecracker – and then left the area. The late-in-the-night attack had sparked protests in the state as it took place a day before Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s three-day visit to his constituency in Wayanad. Scores of Congress workers had been targeted in the wake of the attack.

The Kerala Police had come under fire for its failure to nab the person who had targeted the headquarters of the ruling party.

A police official said the Youth Congress leader had targeted the CPI(M) office in protest against repeated incidents of attacks on Congress offices, allegedly involving CPI(M) workers. Police would seek his custody for further interrogation to ascertain the conspiracy behind it, if any, police officials added.

Scientific examination of the CCTV footage helped police identify the shirt worn by the accused. According to the police, a probe found that Kalathur had purchased one of the shirts belonging to that particular brand and his mobile phone was also found in the range of the crime location. When police tracked him down, Kalathur had appeared for questioning after deleting all call and message details from his phone, police said.

A week ago, when Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra was slated to enter Kerala, there were reports that the police had zeroed in on the alleged accused. Incidentally, Kalathur has been arrested when Rahul Gandhi is touring the state as part of his Bharat Jodo Yatra.

However, Congress vice-president V T Balram said the arrest was only meant to divert the attention from Bharat Jodo Yatra. “Jithin is a Youth Congress worker. His arrest was meant to save the face of the government and the party. There is no evidence against him,” he said.