BJP leader Sobha Surendran has been booked by the Kerala police for her provocative remarks against the officers on duty at Sabarimala. According to reports, Sobha issued a threat against SP Yathish Chandra who was on duty at Sabarimala during a protest march against the arrest of BJP state secretary K Surendran in Kannur.

The Kannur SI said, “In her speech, she said that if police officers have lathis we have dandas or sticks. He also said, “She has been booked under section 117 E of the Kerala police act - threatens obstructs or assaults a police officer with the manifest intention of preventing the officer from discharging his duties.”

It was Yathish Chandra who arrested K Surendran last week for unlawful assembly and defying the prohibitory orders at the hill shrine of Sabarimala. With the officer’s recent altercation with Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan, Yathish has been in the eye of the storm.

The Union Minister and the police officer had a verbal argument over allowing private vehicles past Nilakkal. While the Union Minister wanted the vehicles of the people who accompanied him past Nilakkal and to Pamba to pass. Yathish Chandra stated that that it would not be possible and this led to the Union Minister protesting against the rule by taking a KSRTC Pamba and climbing up Sabarimala.

Meanwhile, a 4-member BJP panel formed by the party chief Amit shah will visit Sabarimala to assess the level of atrocity meted out supporters of the party. According to reports, a delegation was constituted by Amit Shah to reportedly get a first-hand experience of the controversy at the hill shrine. The panel will submit a report in the next 16 days.