Kannur: BJP leader Shobha Surendran has been booked for making provocative statements against the Kerala Police officers.
During a recent BJP march in Kannur, Shobha threatened SP Yathish Chandra, who is on duty at Sabarimala. The march was held to protest the arrest of BJP state general secretary K Surendran while on his way to Sabarimala.
Chandra as been in the eye of a storm ever since he detained Surendran on charges of unlawful assembly. He further irked the BJP after he had a brief standoff with Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan at Nilakkal earlier this month. The BJP had sought action against the SP for showing 'disrespectful' behaviour towards the Union minister.
Radhakrishnan's Sabarimala visit got entangled in a controversy after he had an altercation with the SP over restrictions on private vehicles heading to Pamba, the last entry point to the Lord Ayyappa Temple.
The restrictions were imposed following protests by devotees and activists of the BJP and the RSS over the Kerala government's decision to implement a Supreme Court order allowing the entry of women of all age groups into the shrine.
The hill temple at Sabarimala was opened on November 16 for the over two-month-long pilgrimage season amid tension.
Chandra's duty at Nilakkal, the base camp of Sabarimala, ends on November 30. The Kerala government has reassigned the cops stationed at Sabarimala temple and nearby areas. Intelligence IG Ashok Yadav will head the security team at Nilakkal, replacing Chandra on December 1. Chandra, who said that he was an ardent Ayyappa devotee, offered prayers at the temple on Tuesday evening.
