SIT to nab absconders, police announce reward

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A reward of Rs 1 lakh will be given to those who provide credible information on the whereabouts of two absconding persons in the Jishnu Pranoy death case, police announced on Thursday.
A top-level meeting of crime branch officers, chaired by DGP Loknath Behera, also decided to constitute a special team under ADGP (crime) Nitin Agarwal to arrest the absconding M K Sakthivel and C P Praveen.
Sakthivel was the vice-principal of Nehru College of Engineering, Pambady, and Praveen, a faculty member.
Agarwal would be choosing the other members of the special probe team. A team that was earlier set up would also come under the ADGP.
Behera wrote to the police chiefs of other states seeking their help in nabbing the duo, suspected to have fled Kerala. Police have also decided to speed up the procedure to confiscate the assets of the absconding.
In a related development, the police decided to probe in detail the "role of outsiders" in the incidents that led to the alleged assault on K C Mahija, mother of Jishnu Pranoy, in front of the police headquarters on Wednesday.
Though the DGP had instructed range IG Manoj Abraham to file a report, he sought more time on Thursday, but a preliminary report ruled out police excesses.
A meeting of senior police officers decided to probe the outsiders' role after the force came under criticism for mishandling the.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the DGP had alleged that outsiders were responsible for the Wednesday's incident.
Jishnu's maternal uncle Sreejith said except for SUCI leaders Shajir Khan, Mini and Sreekumar, who were there to help the family, they had no relation with the other two arrested men, K M Shajahan and Himaval Bhadrananda.