Elected Officials Indicted in Altercation with Public Transit Employee

A case has been registered against Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran and five others for a road rage incident involving a KSRTC bus. The case stems from a dispute between the mayor and the bus driver, who was arrested and released on bail. The mayor accused the driver of misbehavior; he claimed the mayor's family blocked the bus and forced passengers off. The incident sparked protests and political debate.

A case has been registered against Mayor Arya Rajendran, her husband and four others in connection with a recent road rage incident here.

The Cantonment police registered a case on Saturday night based on a complaint lodged by Baiju Noel, a lawyer who had earlier approached a local court in this regard.

According to the FIR, the case was registered against Arya Rajendran, CPI (M) MLA Sachin Dev and three other people for blocking a KSRTC bus on the road, creating traffic snarl and causing inconvenience to the public.

They were booked under Sections 141 (unlawful assembly), 268 (public nuisance), 283 (causing obstruction in a public way), 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code and and Section 201 (causing impediment to the free flow of traffic) of the Motor Vehicle Act.

The police action comes amidst reports that H L Yadhu, the driver of the KSRTC bus against whom Rajendran had filed a misbehaviour complaint, moved the court seeking action against the Mayor, MLA and the others involved in the road rage incident a week ago.

The mayor and her family had on April 27 night got into a heated argument with the KSRTC bus driver after blocking the vehicle at Palayam junction. The mayor alleged that the driver made sexually suggestive gestures at them.

She claimed that the driver was rash and negligent, and they intervened after the bus was about to hit their car from behind.

Police had arrested the driver based on the mayor's complaint that he misbehaved with her. Later, he was released as the case was registered as a bailable offence.

The driver had alleged that the mayor's vehicle attempted to overtake the KSRTC bus on the wrong side.

He claimed that the mayor's husband, MLA K M Sachin Dev, forced passengers to get off the bus after blocking it on the road.

The driver had also said that he was not aware that Arya Rajendran was the mayor and Sachin Dev was an MLA.

The controversy took a political colour later as a group of Youth Congress activists last week staged a protest demonstration against the woman mayor outside the Corporation complex here, while the BJP councillors of the civic body boycotted the council meeting by raising the issue.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)