The Thiruvananthapuram Judicial First Class Magistrate Court on Tuesday ordered further investigation into the alleged assault on Youth Congress workers by senior CPI(M) leader E.P. Jayarajan aboard an IndiGo flight during a protest against former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan four years ago.
The order was issued by the court after Farzeen Majeed, one of the Youth Congress workers, challenged a police report that had concluded that there was insufficient evidence to proceed against Mr. Jayarajan. The court directed the Valiyathura Station House Officer (SHO) to conduct a detailed investigation, including an examination of CCTV footage and other available evidence, and submit a comprehensive report.
The incident had taken place in June 2022, when Mr. Majeed and another Youth Congress activist R.K. Naveen Kumar staged a protest aboard the flight which had arrived in Thiruvananthapuram from Kannur.
The Valiyathura police have registered a case for attempted murder against four Youth Congress workers on the basis of a complaint by Mr. Jayarajan, despite the protesters maintaining that they had only raised slogans inside the aircraft, while the CPI(M) leader had allegedly attacked them.
Based on complaints by the Youth Congress activists, a separate case had been registered against Mr. Jayarajan. Former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s gunman, Anil Kumar, was also named as an accused in the case.
However, during the final days of the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s tenure, the police submitted a report stating that Mr. Jayarajan could not be implicated in the case due to lack of evidence. The report was subsequently filed before the court.
Published – June 16, 2026 08:01 pm IST
