KSRTC suspends a fifth employee in assault case

Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 27: The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Tuesday placed one more employee under suspension in connection with the assault of a man in front of his daughter in a nearby bus depot.

Four employees had already been suspended by the management and they were booked by the police for offences including non-bailable ones. The fifth person, a mechanic attached to the nearby Kattakada bus depot, was suspended pending enquiry based on the findings of the Vigilance wing of the corporation that he had committed a serious breach of discipline, a KSRTC statement said here.

"Four employees were already suspended in this incident. The mechanic S Ajikumar's involvement was found when the Vigilance examined the video in detail as part of the investigation. The action was taken based on that," the Chairman's office added.

The 55-year old Preman and his college-going daughter were pushed and assaulted by the staff of the public transport corporation after a brief war of words at a bus depot near Thiruvananthapuram on September 20.

The incident caught wide public and media attention after a purported visual, showing the employees pushing the man into a room, assaulting him and beating his daughter who tried to stop them, was captured on a mobile phone and went viral.

Kattakkada police had said five KSRTC employees have been booked in connection with the incident and various sections of IPC including 143, 149, 323 and so on have been slapped against them.

Subsequently, the state-run corporation said its Chairman and Managing Director personally contacted Preman and apologised for what happened and also assured stern action against the employees concerned. The Kerala High Court has registered a case on its own to look into the incident based on media reports.