Kannur: Nearly two months after a black-flag protest against Health Minister Veena George at Kannur railway station was projected by the CPM as an attempt on her life, she has finally recorded her statement before the Railway Police. Notably, she gave her statement only a week after the Assembly polls.

Several media reports suggested that the minister’s version diverges from that of her gunman, who had alleged that Kerala Students’ Union (KSU) activists used an ‘unknown weapon’ and even threatened ‘to kill the minister’ during the protest. However, according to these reports, the minister attributed her neck injury to a scuffle rather than a weapon attack.

Railway Police said the minister's statement was recorded around April 16. Investigating officer - Inspector Sudheer Manoharan confirmed this but declined to disclose details. “Her statement is part of the investigation and cannot be revealed at this stage,” he said, distancing himself from media reports but without directly disputing them.

Calls and messages to the minister went unanswered. Public prosecutor K Ajith Kumar said he was not privy to the statement.

Veena George was facing intense protest from the Congress-led UDF. A wreath was placed at her doorstep on February 21. On February 25, when she arrived in Kannur, the youth fronts of the UDF planned a series of protests. But things turned violent when suspected CPM workers assaulted Youth League leader Shajir Iqbal, who waved a black flag at the minister in Peringome. The KSU activists then planned the protest at the railway station when she reached there to board the Vande Bharat Express to Thiruvananthapuram.

Though CCTV footage and visuals from TV channels show police officers blocking the KSU protesters before they could reach near the minister, CPM leaders repeatedly framed the incident as a violent assassination attempt.

Acting on the gunman’s complaint, police booked five KSU activists -- Athul M C, Akshay V V, Bithul Balan, Ahmed Yasin and Mubas C H -- under serious provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including attempt to murder, rioting with weapons and assault on a public servant. They were detained at the spot and spent over two weeks in judicial custody.

When their bail application came up on March 12, the Sessions Court, presided over by Judge K T Nisar Ahammed, found little to support these charges. No weapon was recovered, and arrest records showed the accused were not carrying any. The court held that there was no material to substantiate allegations of attempt to murder or use of dangerous weapons.

Accounts from police personnel on duty -- Sub-inspector Prakash, Sub-Inspector Anuroop and Civil Police Officer Akhil -- were consistent: KSU activists waving black flags raised slogans and tried to move towards the minister, leading to pushing and jostling when security intervened. Both the minister and the gunman were injured in the scuffle, they said, adding that no weapons were used.

Medical evidence also did not back the initial claim. The wound certificate did not record any weapon injury, and a doctor’s statement suggested the neck pain could have resulted from a sudden jerk.

Despite these gaps, the CPM leadership escalated the episode in the run-up to the election. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan termed it ‘undemocratic and unacceptable’, while party secretary M V Govindan mobilised statewide protests, framing it as an attack on a woman minister.

After the KSU activists secured bail, the Congress-led UDF flipped the narrative on the ruling Left, portraying it as intolerant of dissent. In Aranmula, the minister’s constituency, her rival candidate and Youth Congress leader Abin Varkey Kodiyattu used the episode to question Veena George’s credibility.

On Saturday, after reports emerged that Veena George had recorded her statement, Congress state vice-president V T Balram launched a sharp attack: “I am not asking ‘have you no shame’ to Madam Veena George, because Kerala already knows the answer. But don’t you feel any guilt that five students were jailed for 15 days because of what you told the police? The way power was used, so vindictively, makes your presence in public life itself dangerous.”

Balram also questioned whether action would be sought against the gunman if his statement was false, and criticised M V Govindan for using the episode to call for protests against the Congress.