Union leaders identified in SBI attack case

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Seven more suspects, allegedly involved in vandalizing the treasury branch of SBI here, have been identified, police said on Friday.

The persons identified with the help of the bank’s surveillance camera visuals were Suresh Babu and Suresh, state-level leaders of pro-CPM NGO Union, and Anilkumar, Ajayakumar, Sreevalsan, Binuraj and Vinukumar.

The suspects have been on the run, police said. Meanwhile, a city court on Friday rejected the bail pleas of Harilal of technical Education Directorate and Asokan of treasury directorate, arrested a day ago in the same case.

Meanwhile, it has been alleged that the police were delaying arrests owing to political pressure. Investigators, it was alleged, initially refused to identify Suresh Babu and Suresh, purportedly seen in the video leading an unruly crowd into the bank. Local CPM leaders, too, have reportedly approached the bank for an outof-court settlement of the case.

The alleged incident happened on Wednesday, the second day of the nationwide strike. The men entered the cabin of branch manager Santhosh Karunakaran, and showered abuses on him, demanding that the branch be closed. They also vandalised the furniture and a computer system causing an estimated loss of Rs 1.5 lakh. It was learned that the CPM local leadership had offered compensation to settle the case.

Meanwhile, the Southern Railway would act tough on those who blocked trains as part of the two-day strike, including imposing hefty fine on agitators to compensate for the loss suffered. CPM’s former MLA and state secretariat member V Sivankutty and CPM district secretary Anavoor Nagappan were among those booked for obstructing train schedules.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has registered as many as 34 cases across the state. Of these cases, 22 were registered in Thiruvananthapuram division and 12 in Palakkad. CPM leaders Sivankutty and Nagappan have been arraigned in one of the six cases registered at RPF Thiruvananthapuram station.

The railways has provisions to impose a penalty of up to Rs 24,000 for every service-hour lost. The fine would be collectively imposed on the accused. “This means the accused could share the penalty,’’ a railway official said. Thiruvananthapuram RPF inspector Sabu Jacob said the accused have been booked for trespassing, causing a nuisance to passengers and public and obstructing trains and obstructing the duty of government servants, all bailable charges. ‘’We would soon be serving summons to them (Sivankutty and Anavoor Nagappan). We are also trying to identify others from photographs,’’ he said.