Kerala: 16 PFI activists named accused in SFI leader Abhimanyu's killing

Kochi: Sixteen activists of radical outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), its student and political offshoots -- Campus Front and Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) -- were named as accused in the charge sheet filed by police on Tuesday into the killing of a student leader in July.

The 1,500-page charge sheet, submitted before Ernakulam Judicial First Class Court-II, stated that the activists of these outfits were involved in the killing of Students' Federation of India (SFI) leader Abhimanyu on July 2.

So far, 20 persons, part of a 30-member gang involved in the murder, have been arrested. The prime accused, Campus Front leader Muhammed, was arrested on July 17.

Muhammed, a third-year Arabic degree student in the Maharaja's College, allegedly organised the group, comprising activists of PFI, SDPI and Campus Front, to attack SFI activists in the college campus.

A clash between SFI and Campus Front (student wing of SDPI--an Islamic political outfit) activists over a graffiti had led to the killing of the 20-year-old student leader at Maharaja's College in Kochi, police said.

Abhimanyu, second-year BSc Environmental Chemistry student and native of Vattavada in Idukki district of Kerala, was stabbed to death, they said.