Popular litigant 'Nawab' dead

Nawab Rajendran, popular activist and litigant, died yesterday morning aged 53.

He was found at a private lodge here and was shifted to hospital where he was declared dead. He had been suffering from cancer.

Rajendran, who amazed even seasoned lawyers with his sharp skills in arguing cases, earned the name Nawab Rajendran, after he launched a newspaper named Nawab.

It was the excesses of the emergency that led Nawab Rajendran to take on the high and mighty, particularly the then Kerala Chief Minister K. Karunakaran.

But picking up the cudgels against the powers that be also brought its bitter side to Rajendran, who was brutally beaten up by police, leading to ill health almost for the rest of his life.

With his straight-from-the-heart attitude and an incessant appetite to fight wrongs in society, Rajendran had a mass following within the state. A few years ago Rajendran donated an award of Rs 2,00,000 which he had won to build a mortuary in Ernakulam.