Three held for assaulting youth over earlier spat on sanitiser usage

KOCHI: Three persons, who allegedly assaulted a Neendakara native in June owing to a former grudge over a verbal spat they had at a Covid-19 care centre in Aluva, were arrested on Wednesday. Jayan, 35, a native of Thodupuzha, Satheesan, 48, of Veliyathunadu, and Suresh Kumar, 42, of Thiruvananthapuram, are the arrested accused. After the victim, identified as Edison, lost sight in his left eye in the attack, the gang went in hiding. 

According to sources, Edison — who was admitted to the Covid care centre a few months ago after he developed symptoms of the disease — had used a sanitiser bottle kept in their room to clean his hands, ignoring the objection raised by the accused, who were also inmates of the centre.

This  confrontation led to a clash between the youth and the three-member gang. As the latter had been nursing a grudge towards him, they assaulted Edison later in June, when they spotted him at Manappuram in Aluva. A special team of the Aluva East Police led by Inspector of Police Gopakumar K R, constituted to trace the accused, arrested the trio on Wednesday. The accused were produced before the court, which remanded them in judicial custody.