The Cantonment police on Thursday arrested two activists of the CPI (M)-affiliated Kerala NGO Union in connection with the vandalism of the State Bank of India (SBI) treasury branch, near the Secretariat, a day ago.
Those accused were identified as Harilal, 43, an employee of the Directorate of Technical Education, and Asokan, 32, an accountant at the Directorate of Treasuries. While the former is a district secretariat member of the union, the latter the secretary of the union’s Thycaud area committee. Both of the accused surrendered before the office of the Assistant Commissioner, Cantonment sub-division. They have been remanded to judicial custody till January 24.
The bank reported to have suffered a loss of around ₹1.5 lakh. The activists had damaged a computer, mobile phone, land phone and a glass table-top in the bank manager’s cabin. While the police had identified nine strike supporters on the basis of a CCTV footage, they were yet to identify six people who are suspected to have waited outside the bank. All of the accused are believed to be government employees, the police said. (EOM/SBG)