Grow Vasu case: Witness turns hostile; Court postpones trial

Kozhikode: The trial proceedings in connection with a case against human rights activist Grow Vasu have been postponed to September 12. 

Kundamangalam Judicial First Class Magistrate Court postponed the trial after the prosecution requested to re-examine the fourth witness in the case.

Meanwhile, Lalu, the seventh witness in the case, turned hostile by stating that he had not seen Vasu protesting at the hospital premises. The cops did not read the statement to him after they jotted it down, he testified in court. 

Grow Vasu was recently arrested by Kozhikode Medical College police for an alleged protest seven years ago in front of the medical college mortuary, where the bodies of Maoists killed in a shooting incident were kept.

The 91-year-old had failed to appear before the court on a long pending warrant issued by the Kunnamangalam Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, and the arrest was recorded as part of executing the warrant.

After his arrest, he refused to pay the fine or receive bail and was later remanded. He was subsequently sent to the Kozhikode Sub Jail. 
 
The incident pertaining to Grow Vasu’s case happened in 2016 when the veteran Maoist leader and a few others had gathered in front of the mortuary at the Kozhikode Medical College to protest the deaths of Maoists Kuppuswamy alias Devarajan and Ajitha Paramesan alias Kaveri who were killed in an alleged encounter. Vasu and others launched their protest when the dead bodies of the duo were brought to the hospital.