SDPI district secretary arrested in DYFI Dalit activist assault case

Kozhikode: A district secretary of SDPI, a political offshoot of the Popular Front of India (PFI), was arrested on Tuesday in connection with the attack on a DYFI Dalit activist in the Balussery area of Kozhikode district of Kerala, police said.

Terming it a major breakthrough in the case, the Kozhikode Rural police said that it has arrested Safeer M K, a local leader of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), and allegedly a key accused in the crime.

Jishnu Raj (22), a Dalit activist of the DYFI, the youth wing of the ruling CPI(M), had suffered grave injuries after being attacked allegedly by workers of the SDPI and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), accusing him of destroying their flex boards recently.

Nine persons were arrested in the case by police earlier, after a video of the incident went viral.

The video showed the victim being pushed underwater in a pond before being brutally beaten up by a mob.

Police have booked the accused for the offenses of an attempt to murder (Section 307 Indian Penal Code), attempt to commit culpable homicide (Section 308 IPC), voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons and means (Section 324 IPC), unlawful assembly (section 143 IPC) and rioting armed with a deadly weapon (section 148 IPC) and various provisions of SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.