Thiruvananthapuram/Kannur: In a major development in the alleged attack on former Kerala health minister Veena George, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Tuesday, November 3, informed a court in Kannur that none of the charges against the five Kerala Students' Union (KSU) activists in the case can be sustained, news agency IANS reported.

Source: IANS via Asia Post

SIT head U. Preman submitted the team's final report before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kannur, stating that the activists had not committed any of the offences mentioned in the charge sheet, IANS reported.

5KSU activists the SIT says cannot be prosecuted
0Weapons recovered by the SIT in the case
Nov 3Day the final report was filed in the Kannur court

Black-flag protest is not a crime, SIT says

The report says the charges of rioting and trespassing into railway premises will not stand, that the protesters did not obstruct police from performing their official duties, and that staging a black-flag protest does not amount to a criminal offence. The team found that the activists never reached George during the demonstration at Kannur railway station earlier this year, and that what took place was a scuffle between the activists and the police.

Source: NationPress

How the case turned: the gunman's reversal

The clean chit follows the case's turning point last month, when George's personal security officer Abhilash changed his statement before the SIT and said he had not witnessed any attempt to attack her — a reversal Awaaz Punjab reported on October 20. The SIT also said it could not recover any weapons allegedly used in the incident. The gunman's original statement had formed the basis for the serious charges, including attempt to murder, invoked against the five activists, who had spent time in jail before securing bail.

The case had become a major political controversy in Kerala, with the Congress and the CPI(M) taking sharply opposing positions over the incident. The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kannur will now decide whether to accept the SIT's final report and discharge the five activists.