Police detain DCC general secretary fearing protest against CM at function

Thiruvananthapuram DCC general secretary S Krishnakumar under preventive custody.

Thonnakkal (Thiruvananthapuram): Police detained the organising committee vice-chairman of Kumaran Asan's birth anniversary function well before Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan arrived at the venue here for inaugurating it on Saturday.

S Krishnakumar, the organising committee vice-chairman and general secretary of the Thiruvananthapuram District Congress Committee (DCC), was taken into preventive custody and detained at the police station along with five others, before the CM arrived as the police feared a protest at the venue. They were left free after the CM left the venue.

DCC vice-president M Muneer as well as Congress workers Suni, Joy, Suji and Safar were also taken into preventive detention.

The CM has been under a thick security blanket ever since he became the target of Opposition protests over his alleged role in money laundering and gold-smuggling as claimed by a key accused in the cases over these crimes.

Krishnakumar had been actively participating in all activities in connection with the Kumaran Asan National Institute of Culture situated at Thonnakal. He was present at the venue until Saturday noon. After he went out and returned to the venue around 3 pm on his scooter, as many as 25 policemen surrounded him and told him that he cannot participate in the event.

He was detained citing that there was a case against him for protesting against the Chief Minister in 2019.

“I have been visiting Asan Institute every other day as the organising committee vice-president for the programme. After the arrest, I was taken to Mangalapuram police station and later to Kadinamkulam station. I was let out only after 6 pm. Protesting during a programme in connection with Kumaran Asan was not even in the distant dreams,” Krishnakumar said.

Krishnakumar is the husband of Mahila Congress leader Bindu Krishna. He is a former member of the Kerala University syndicate and an ex-member of the Pothencode Block Panchayath.

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