Protesting against Kathua rape: Five admins held in hoax hartal case

Malappuram: The police on Saturday arrested five admins,  including a former RSS worker,   in connection with the hoax hartal call on April 16, protesting against  the rape and murder of the Kathua girl. 

The special investigation team constituted by Malappuram district police chief Debesh Kumar Behra also interrogated a 16-year-old boy from Tirur at the Manjery police station in connection with the incident. He  was the admin of one of the WhatsApp groups.  

Mr   Behra told reporters that more people would  be arrested soon. “The involvement of all the accused arrested has been  confirmed,”  he said and added that “it was the juvenile who coordinated the campaign in Malappuram district. “The juvenile would be taken into custody after consultation with the child welfare authorities,”  he said.

The police team tracked the fake hartal calls to two WhatsApp groups ‘Justice for Sisters’ and ‘Voice of Youth’.  The culprits have WhatsApp groups of the same name in all the districts in the  state through which the  ‘hartal’ call spread fast. The police also  seized 26 mobile phones.  The messages had reached  6.5 lakh  people through the social media.

Those arrested were identified as Amarnath Baiju, 20, of Thennala,  Kollam, who is suspected to be the creator of two WhatsApp groups,  and Thiruvananthapuram natives, M.J. Syril, 22, Sudheesh, 22, Gokul Shekhar, 21, and Akhil, 23,  of Venniyur in the district.

According to the police,   Amarnath,   with the help of other accused,  weaved out district-level networks which unleashed an  aggressive campaign for the hartal. Later,  various political parties also joined  the campaign which turned violent at various parts.