A Kerala court on Tuesday, July 19, granted bail to former MLA and Youth Congress vice president KS Sabarinadhan, on the same day that he was arrested. Police took him into custody on charges of plotting the protest against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan onboard an IndiGo flight on June 13. The bail was granted after he agreed to produce two sureties and deposit his mobile phone with the police. He has been asked to appear before the police after three days starting Wednesday.
Sabarinadhan was arrested by the Valiyathura police in Thiruvananthapuram, who alleged that Sabarinadhan’s WhatsApp messages show that the protest was organised pre-planned. The police alleged that he instigated Congress leaders through WhatsApp to protest against the Chief Minister. His arrest has sparked outrage within the Congress, who called it a ‘threat’ by CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
The opposition also alleged that, when Sabarinadhan approached a Thiruvananthapuram court for pre-arrest bail, the police reportedly submitted that his arrest was already recorded at 10.50 am. The Congress has however alleged that the arrest took place only at 12.30 pm, but the police lied to the court. Reacting to the bail, leader of opposition VD Satheesan said, "The court said that it was only a protest and there was no attempt to murder. The Congress has been protesting against Vijayan ever since fresh revelations surfaced in the gold smuggling case last month. We are not going to be cowed down by his threats and we will continue our protest till Vijayan replies to all allegations levelled against him."
The Opposition leaders also pointed out that no case was filed against Mattannur MLA EP Jayarajan, who pushed down the Congress protesters inside the flight. Indigo Airlines had imposed a no-flying ban on EP Jayarajan for three weeks while Youth Congress activists who shouted slogans at the Chief Minister inside the flight last month were banned from flying for two weeks.