Mangaluru: Vittal Malekudiya and his father acquitted of charge of links with Maoists

Mangaluru: The 3rd Additional District and Sessions Judge B.B. Jakati acquitted journalist Vittala Malekudiya and his father Lingappa, who had been accused of links with Maoists, on October 21.

Vittal was accused of being a member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist) and was arrested under sedition charges by the state police on March 3, 2012 from his village Kutloor in Belthangady taluk.

The Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) had arrested Vittal and five others from Belthangady. Vittal’s father Lingappa Malekudiya whose leg was fractured by one ANF personnel was also named as accused number 7 in the case.

After serving a jail-term for about four months, Vittal was granted bail. However, in 2015,  Karnataka police submitted a chargesheet at the Belthangady sessions court, in connection with the sedition case.

Vittal had accused the police of falsely framing him in the sedition case. Now, the court has finally acquitted him and his father of charge of links with Maoists.