Daijiworld Media Network - Beltangady (RJP)
Beltangady, May 17: Vittal Malekudiya, who had been arrested in 2012 for alleged links with Naxals and later released, and who had written his exams while in the custody of the police, on Saturday May 16 filed his nomination for the upcoming gram panchayat polls.
Vittal, considered as a leader of the Malekudiya tribe in Kutloor, is the only postgraduate from this place and from the community. He filed his nomination to contest from Kutloor ward under Naravi gram panchayat here.
During the BJP government's tenure, Vittal was arrested and sent to jail for four months for alleged connection to Naxals. Literature by Kuldip Nayyar, Bhagat Singh with tea and sugar were seized from Vittal to ‘prove’ that he had a links with naxals.
At the time of his arrest on March 2, 2012, Vittal was a postgraduate student of Mangalore University. He was known to have participated in protests organized by leftists and nurtured revolutionary and progressive thoughts, and was emerging as a student leader.
As there were objections and protests, the BJP government, which was in power then, did not file a chargesheet against Malekudiya. Sadananda Gowda, the then chief minister had said that the case against Vittal would be withdrawn. But after three years of his arrest, the Siddaramaiah-led government filed a chargesheet against him recently.