One police station alone books 3,000 as protests erupt in Kerala
TRIVANDRUM: One police station in the Kerala state capital here alone booked 3,000 protesters violating COVID-19 protocol demanding the resignation of a minister in a week.
Opposition parties are on the warpath to oust higher education minister KT Jaleel who is under the scanner of federal agencies probing a gold smuggling scam.
Protests erupted across the state soon ater the Enforcement Directorate (ED) probing economic offences questioned him for hours over two days on the previous weekend.
Following this, the counter-terrorism National Investigation Agency (NIA) also summoned him to its office in the port city of Kochi 210 km from here for almost eight hours.
Young activists of the principal opposition Congress party, its allies and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party are on the streets baying for his blood since.
The Cantonment Police Station booked 3,000 youngsters who protested at the State Secretariat, the seat of power, and arrested 500 of them, including 100 women.
They face charges of violating the Disaster Management Act and the Kerala Epidemic Disease Ordinance as well as of unlawful assembly and similar offences.
Among the cops posted to control them, 20, including an assistant commissioner of police, have tested positive for the virus. Five officers were also hurt while in action.
On Monday, 2,910 more people were found to be infected by the virus from 25,848 samples tested with an alarmingly high testing positivity ratio of 11.26.
Also on the day, the authorities announced 18 more deaths ater confirmation from the National Institute of Virology taking the total number of fatalities to 553. A group of doctors monitoring the pandemic’s spread in Kerala estimated the toll at 998 including non-natives and those with severe comorbidities officially excluded.
The total infections have now reached 138,631 of whom 98,724 have recovered so far. Also, the southern state recorded the highest recovery of 3,022 on the day.