Thiruvananthapuram: Jishnu Prannoy’s mother Mahija, sister Avishna and uncle K.K. Sreejith called off their five-day long hunger strike on Sunday after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan assured them that the government was making serious efforts to nab the two remaining people in the accused list in the unnatural death case of the engineering student. The chief minister also assured them that the government will initiate action against police officials found to have committed lapses during the action on the family. The Chief Minister was forced to make a comedown from his earlier stand justifying the police action owing to the uncompromising stand of Jishnu’s parents as well as the intervention of CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechuri. The ensuing election to the Malappuram Lok Sabha election was also a compelling factor.
The prospects of an amicable end to the agitation that embarrassed the LDF government no end brightened after special prosecutor in Jinshu’s death case C.P. Udayabhanu along with sate attorney K.V. Sohan met Ms Mahija and Mr Sreejith on the instruction of the Chief Minister. It is understood that Jishnu's family and state government representatives signed a 10-point agreement. Chief Minister's private secretary M.V. Jayarajan and political secretary Puthalathil Dineshan were also present during the talks. The Chief Minister, who was in Kochi, later spoke to Mahija, who was in the intensive care unit of the Government Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, over phone and convinced her that the police was making sincere efforts to nab the remaining two accused in Jishnu’s death case. He also cited the arrest of Sakthivel, who is the vice-principal of Nehru College of Engineering, on Sunday.
Mr. Vijayan is understood to have communicated to them that he would examine if there was a lapse on the part of the police in acting against them near police headquarters and actions would be taken against any errant officials, said sources. Mahija and her brother Sreejith, who were admitted to the hospital on Wednesday after the police action on them, were on a hunger strike since then demanding the arrest of all accused in Jinshu’s death case and action against police officials for excess on them. Avishna was on a hunger stir at their house since then. The day witnessed marathon initiatives with Mr Yechuri ringing up Ms Mahija and urging her to end the stir.
He was also learnt to have communicated to the CPM state leadership that the stir needed to be ended soon. In the meantime, CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran also held talks with Mahija and Sreejith. By evening, Mr. Udayapbhanu reached the hospital and held talks. Talking to reporters after the talks, Mr Sreejith said that the government had accepted all their demands. “The Chief Minister’s assurances are endorsed by advocates Udayabhanu and Sohan, who are the most faithful persons for us. The strike is the victory of the people of Kerala.” Mr Sreejith said the government assured them that conspiracy charges would not be pressed against SUCI leader Shajar Khan and others as they joined the stir with their knowledge. He also added that the family was not aware of the presence of V.S. Achuthanandan’s former aide K. M. Shajahan and controversial godman Himavalbhadrananda alias ‘thokku swami’.
