Arrested Ex-SFI Leader K. Vidya Sent to Judicial Custody Till July 6

Former Students Federation of India (SFI) leader K. Vidya, who was arrested for allegedly forging documents for a guest lecturer's job in a government college in Kerala, was on Thursday sent to judicial custody till July 6th.

A court in Palakkad, however, allowed the police to take her into custody for the next two days.

Meanwhile, her anticipatory bail will come up on Saturday, when her police custody ends.

Claiming innocence, Vidya said that her arrest on Wednesday night was a "trap" against her and the state CPI(M) leadership by the Congress.

Vidya is accused of forging her experience certificate to secure the post of a guest lecturer at a state-run college in Palakkad.

She learned to have told the police that she has done no wrong and that she is a victim of a "deep-rooted" conspiracy hatched by the Congress-backed teachers' organisation.

A Kasargod resident, Vidya was taken into police custody from her friend's house in Kozhikode on Wednesday night.

Reacting to the development, veteran Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala told the media this morning at Kasargod that everything connected to Vidya is "stage-managed".

"Is Kerala Police so inefficient that they cannot catch an absconder?. It's because the CPI(M)-led government does not wish to arrest one of their staunch supporters. It's been more than two weeks since this grave crime done by the SFI has come out and where is Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, why is he silent?" asked Chennithala.

CPI(M) central committee leader A.K.Balan countered the delay in the arrest of Vidya by pointing out that when the country is burning, the Prime Minister is doing yoga in the US.

"The Congress here is not bothered about such things and is busy targeting Vijayan and the SFI for vested interests. In Kerala, the SFI rules in more than 80 per cent of the educational institutions and the support base of the CPI(M) is around 45 per cent, which shows SFI has a huge support base cutting across political parties.

"So SFI is one organisation which has become part and parcel of the state and they are being targeted. Just look at the status of the Congress-led KSU, it's nowhere to be seen," said Balan.

Vidya has been booked under Section 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (committing forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (fraudulently using forged documents as genuine) of the IPC.

Meanwhile, her counsel said, "We do not know how she was taken into custody when her anticipatory bail plea was pending before the High Court," said her counsel.

Responding to the development, the Congress accused the police of playing a foul game as despite knowing everything, they did not take any action against those
CPI(M) leaders who managed to keep her out of public glare.