Thalassery engineering college student kidnapped, assaulted; four SFI leaders booked

Kannur: A fifth-semester Mechanical Engineering student of the College of Engineering, Thalassery, has alleged that he was forcibly taken away in a car and assaulted by four SFI activists on the college campus. He also alleged they took away his mobile phone.

Abdul Nafih K M (22), a native of Payyoli in Kozhikode, sustained injuries to his face and shoulders in the alleged incident and is undergoing treatment at Indira Gandhi Hospital in Thalassery.

Based on Nafih's statement, police booked four SFI leaders under BNS Sections 126(2) for wrongful restraint, 115(2) for voluntarily causing grievous hurt, 351(2) for criminal intimidation, and 309(1) for robbery.

Thalassery police identified the accused as Akshay K V, Abhi, Sharon and Arjun Vinod.

According to the FIR, the incident occurred around 11 am on September 29 at the College of Engineering, Thalassery, at Eranholi. The college is managed by the Co-operative Academy of Professional Education (CAPE), a society promoted by the state government.

Police said Akshay and Abhi allegedly asked Nafih to get into a car, saying they wanted to talk to him. Sharon and Arjun allegedly threatened to kill him and assaulted him with their hands, causing injuries to his face, shoulder and lips.

Nafih, speaking from his hospital bed, alleged that the incident was a retaliation for an Instagram post he had made against the college students' union leadership. "They behave like this towards everyone who speaks against them. I had put up an Instagram post against them. I think what happened with me yesterday was a retaliation for that," he said on Wednesday.

He alleged that the union secretary, union president and another person, led allegedly by the union chairman, dragged him out of the college during the interval and assaulted him, he alleged. “They told me that they would kill me and that I should not go home,” Nafih said. He also alleged that the assailants tried to strangle him with a belt and their hands.

Nafih said he was dragged towards a bushy area and that a woman living in a house opposite the spot witnessed the incident. "I'm alive because of her," he said.

Nafih said the father of either the union president or the secretary was a senior police officer and feared the case could be influenced.