Kattakada assault: KSRTC duty guard arrested, 3 absconding

Man and daughter assaulted by KSRTC employees following a spar over concession ticket. Photo: Screengrab/MMTV

Thiruvananthapuram: The police on Saturday made the first arrest in the case where four employees of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) thrashed a 55-year-old man at the Kattakkada bus depot recently.

A shadow team under Kattakada DySP arrested the duty guard S R Suresh Kumar from Tirumala.

Poovachal panchayat employee Premanan was assaulted for demanding a student's concession card for his daughter. Earlier, the Kerala Police had modified the charge to a non-bailable offence after the man's daughter Reshma deposed that she too was assaulted in the melee.

Reshma too was shoved by a few employees of the public transport carrier after a brief war of words erupted between them.

The Additional Sessions Court had dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of four employees on Friday.

The court observed that government officials who physically harmed a man in front of his daughter do not deserve anticipatory bail.

The three other accused — KSRTC Aryanad Unit station master A Mohammed Sherif, conductor N Anil Kumar and Assistant CP Milan Dorich — are absconding.

It was alleged that police is delaying the arrest to buy more time for the four, leaders and members of various KSRTC unions, to get anticipatory bail.

In the anticipatory bail application, the accused alleged that the complainant Premanan was making false complaints due to personal enmity. They alleged that Premanan and another had come to the depot on the day with a camera to film the brawl and portray the KSRTC workers as the bad guys.

The video, which made rounds on social media, incited a public outcry against the KSRTC employees.

KSRTC Chairman and Managing Director Biju Prabhakar termed the incident deplorable and suspended the four from duty.

He also issued an apology to the public for the treatment meted out to the girl and her father.

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