Thaha Fazil, one of the two students in Kerala arrested for alleged Maoist-links, failed to get bail from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) court in Kochi on Friday. Thaha and Alan Shuaib are two students of Kannur University, who were charged under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act by the Kerala police. Later, the NIA took over the case.
The NIA strongly opposed the bail plea, which said that a third person who had escaped, was yet to be traced and, hence, bail should not be given to Thaha, the second accused in the case.
The Pantheerakavu police arrested Thaha and Alan from their home town in Kozhikode on November 1, 2019, for allegedly distributing pro-Maoist posters. Thaha reportedly raised pro-Maoists slogan when he was being arrested. According to reports, Maoist leaflets that condemned the Central government's action in Jammu and Kashmir were seized from their house.
While Thaha had moved the court for the bail on Friday, Alan, the first accused, has not submitted his bail plea yet. In February this year, Kannur University allowed him to write his second-semester law exams.
While Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan came under fire from his party for the arrest of the two youth in November, he stood his ground and said that the two were not CPI(M) members. The party unit at Kozhikode, on the other hand, maintained the two were their party members.
Later, the local party leadership also toed Vijayan's line, much to the displeasure of the families of the two youth, supposedly strong CPI(M) supporters.
But, the two got a major reprieve, early this month, when Vijayan after, first refusing to write to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to assign the case back to the Kerala Police, a day later informed the Assembly that he has written to Shah on this.
NIA reportedly stated in the court that they have secured crucial evidence against the accused.
They have submitted books, pamphlets seized and CDs of accused shouting slogan in the court.