More than two months after the murder of Abhimanyu, a Student’s Federation of India (SFI) leader at the Maharajas College in Ernakulam district of Kerala, the investigation team has submitted the chargesheet of the case.
Suresh Kumar, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (AC) told TNM that the chargesheet was submitted at court number 2 of the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Ernakulam at 11:30 am on Tuesday.
“This is the first chargesheet and it is filed against 16 activists belonging to the Campus Front of India (CFI), Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Popular Front of India (PFI),” said AC Suresh Kumar.
The 1,500-page chargesheet alleges that it was 21-year-old Mekattu Sahal, a native of Maradu in Ernakulam who stabbed Abhimanyu, a second year Bsc student of the Maharajas college.
The chargesheet also names CFI state secretary, JI Muhammed, CFI district president, Arif Bin Salim, State Secretary, Mohammed Rifa, Jeffrey, Fazaluddin, Anas, CFI Kochi area treasurer, Rajeeb, Abdul Rashid Saneesh, Adil Bin Salim, Bilal, Riyaz Hussain, Saneesh, Sharukh Amani, Abdul Nasser and Anup.
There are a total of 30 accused in the case and at the moment, the chargesheet is filed against 16 persons who were directly involved in the crime.
The chargesheet was prepared under the leadership of control room ACP Suresh Kumar and ACP Lalji.
Abhimanyu was stabbed to death on July 2 allegedly by CFI and SDPI activists inside the college campus. His murder followed a clash between SFI and CFI activists regarding the use of college walls by the various student unions.
The incident took place just a day before classes were to begin for the freshers and Abhimanyu had written, “Let communalism die,” on one of the walls, much to the dislike of the CFI activists.
Following the murder, the Kerala police began a massive crackdown on CFI and SDPI activists across the state and managed to arrest over 20 persons in connection with the case.