Changanassery (Kerala): Kerala police is caught in a controversy as two policemen have retracted their statements on the killing of their colleague when he was trying to control a mob of students here in October last year.

Assistant sub-inspector M.C. Elias, 47, was killed when he intervened to restrain members of the Students Federation of India and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad at the Nair Service Society (NSS) Hindu College campus at Changanassery, about 130 km from state capital Thiruvananthapuram, as they clashed over campus election Oct 18.

SFI is the student wing of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and ABVP is affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Two of his colleagues had told their senior officers during investigation that they saw Elias being clubbed to death by a tall person.

However, early this week they retracted and said they do not know what happened during the attempt to control the student mob.

Now, Elias' wife Suja has demanded a federal probe into her husband's death. She has received the backing of Leader of Opposition in the state legislative assembly Oomen Chandy, who has sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Oommen Chandy, in a statement issued in Thiruvananthapuram, said the CPI-M-led government should come out with the truth in the wake of retraction of statements by the two policemen. He said the CBI probe would help bring out the truth.

Suja, a schoolteacher, told reporters at her home here Saturday: "I have lost faith in the Kerala Police. "My husband was a very upright police official and I am pained by what has happened now (retraction of statement by his colleagues). For the truth to come out a federal probe is needed." The police had arrested four people from the ABVP after the incident.

 

Source : IANS