Thiruvananthapuram: Court has issued notice to outgoing  Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran and Balussery MLA KM Sachin Dev in connection with a complaint filed by KSRTC driver Yadu, who alleged he was assaulted.

The notice was issued after the court admitted a petition filed by Yadu challenging the police decision to exclude Arya Rajendran, Sachin Dev and others from the chargesheet. The court has directed Arya Rajendran, Sachin Dev and Arya, the wife of Arya Rajendran’s brother, to appear before it on the 21st of this month, either in person or through legal counsel.

Earlier, the police had filed a chargesheet naming only Aravind, Arya Rajendran’s brother, as the accused in the case. Yadu has sought to have the exclusion of Arya Rajendran, Sachin Dev and others quashed, and has demanded that they be included as accused.

In a fresh petition, Yadu has also alleged that Subin, who was the conductor at the time of the incident, destroyed the bus’s CCTV memory card, which he claims is crucial evidence. Yadu has demanded that Subin be arraigned as an accused and that a reinvestigation be ordered, leading to the submission of a fresh chargesheet. He has alleged that Subin acted under pressure from Arya Rajendran and Sachin Dev.

According to Yadu, the CCTV memory card contained footage showing MLA Sachin Dev entering the bus and carrying out the alleged assault.

Yadu has further alleged that the police were initially reluctant to register a case against the then Mayor and did so only after being directed by the court. He has claimed that the investigation was biased and that the police failed to recover the CCTV memory card, thereby weakening the case.