Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala police on Wednesday took into custody a youth who is considered to be the main accused in the murder of M. Abhimanyu, who was stabbed to death at the Maharaja’s College in Ernakulam earlier this month.
The death occurred after an altercation between members of the Students’ Federation of India, of which Abhimanyu was a member, and volunteers of the Campus Front of India over the right to use the college compound wall to paint their respective slogans. In the ensuing melee, Abhimanyu was fatally stabbed.
The youth taken into custody was identified as Mohammad, who is also the unit president of the Campus Front at the college. He was reportedly taken into custody from the Kerala-Karnataka border. A group of others from outside the college is believed to have been involved in the stabbing.
Police believe it was Mohammad, who summoned Abhimanyu to the college on the day he was murdered.
Abhimanyu hailed from a lower middle class farming family in Idukki district, and his family had pinned high hopes on their son who earned admission to the prestigious college.
The Communist Party of India Marxist-led state government had been under pressure to arrest the culprits in the Abhimanyu murder case, considering that he was a member of the SFI, the ruling CPM’s student wing.
The Campus Front is an extension of the Social Democratic Party of India. On Wednesday, CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan warned that SDPI members may have infiltrated into other political parties.
