The Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) has withdrawn its call for a state-wide hartal in Kerala on Tuesday. The call was first given after their leaders were taken into police custody on Monday in relation with the murder of 19-year-old Students Federation of India (SFI) leader, Abhimanyu, in Maharaja’s College.
According a report in Mathrubhumi, the leaders who were taken into custody include SDPI State President Abdul Majeed Faizi, Vice-president MK Manoj Kumar, General Secretary Roy Arakkal, Ernakulam District President Shaukath Ali.
In a statement released on Monday by SDPI State Secretary PR Siyadh, it was said that these leaders were taken into custody as they were coming out of a press conference in the Ernakulam Press Club.
“As a sign of protest against the leaders being taken into custody, SDPI will organise a statewide hartal on July 17 from 6 am to 6 pm,” read the statement.
The statement also read that milk, newspapers, hospitals and so on will be excluded from the hartal.
Two weeks after Abhimanyu’s murder, the police on Saturday nabbed yet another accused. Campus Front of India (CFI) district committee member Adhil was nabbed late on Saturday night.
According to the Special Investigation Team (SIT), who are investigating the case, Adhil was directly involved in executing the crime.
With Adhil’s arrest, this is the first time that the police team has been able to nab a person who was directly involved in carrying out the murder.
So far, the police have arrested nine people including Anoop, Nizar, Bilal, Farooq and Riyaz and detained several others in the case.
Earlier this week, the police had made a massive crackdown on SDPI workers, reportedly detaining several people across the state.
