In a setback to Thiruvananthapuram mayor Arya Rajendran and her MLA husband Sachin Dev in the road rage controversy, the Cantonment Police registered a case against the couple and three other individuals for allegedly blocking a KSRTC bus in the capital city.
The police registered the case on Saturday following a directive from the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Thiruvananthapuram, on a petition filed by Advocate Baiju Noyal. He approached the court on April 30 stating that the Cantonment police and the City Police Commissioner ignored the complaint against the mayor and the MLA.
Earlier, despite complaints by the driver, the police had refused to register a case against the mayor and the MLA. The KSRTC driver, HL Yedhu, also approached the court. As per the report, his plea will be considered on Monday.
In his plea before the court, Yedhu accused the mayor of obstructing his official duty and the MLA of barging into the bus, threatening him, and blocking the road. The driver also sought to initiate a search for the missing memory card containing the CCTV visuals from the bus.
The issue snowballed into a major controversy after the mayor accused the driver of making obscene gestures.
The controversial incident occurred on April 27, when the mayor and her family engaged in a heated argument with the KSRTC bus driver and blocked the bus in Thiruvananthapuram. Arya alleged that the driver had made sexually suggestive gestures towards them.
Following the incident, the mayor filed a complaint against the driver. Subsequently, a case was filed against the driver, Yadhu, on April 28, and he was arrested by the police on charges of reckless driving and misconduct. However, he was later released on bail.
The driver denied the allegations levelled against him. He also lodged a complaint with the police against the mayor and the MLA for obstructing his duty and disrupting the trip.
On May 2, the Kerala State Human Rights Commission ordered an inquiry into the complaint of the KSRTC bus driver who demanded legal action against those who insulted him after stopping the bus in the middle of the road and also against the Cantonment SHO who did not file a case despite a complaint in this regard.