On 11 February, around 9.30 am, the body of a janjatiya man Viswanathan (46) from Wayanad, was found under mysterious circumstances on the Kozhikode Medical College campus. On 8 February, Viswanathan became a father after waiting eight years. The Kalpatta native arrived at the Medical College Hospital on 7 February for his wife Bindu’s delivery.

The incident highlighted the so-called ‘enlightenment’ that Keralites claim to have achieved is nothing but a big lie. Malayalees do not understand that every shabbily dressed Janjatiya (i.e. a Scheduled Tribe / ST person) is not a criminal or a thief.

Public trials and physical harassment, like the 2018 case of Attapady Madhu, still continue. HinduPost reported how that lynching case was being openly derailed. The court case has still not reached anywhere.

Are we witnessing the result of a twisted educational system that produces bigoted semi-literates in their lakhs? Incidentally, there are conflicting reports, accusations, and conspiracy theories regarding Viswanathan’s death.

HinduPost will try to narrate the incident from the victim’s perspective with this article. We are unsure about how many brothers the deceased has. Some named him/them Raghavan, Gopi, and Vinod. We will stick to Raghavan.

Viswanathan’s dead body with physical injuries was found hanging from a tree near the old police quarters of the hospital campus. It was dangling 50 feet from the ground. Contrasting to popular misconception, not all Janjatiyas are excellent tree climbers.

There are serious allegations that Vishwanathan was lynched to death. His family claimed that local police were trying to help his murderers. The victim was a farm laborer, the son of Soman and Patta from Kalpatta in Wayanad.

Kozhikode medical college police brought down the body and immediately reported that Vishwanathan had committed suicide. They later changed it to unnatural death. Suspiciously, the flip-flops in the controversy did not end there.

Media reports mentioned that the body was found to be two days old. Blood had trickled down his nose, and there were blood stains on his leg. They also noted a mark on his neck that pointed to strangulation with a shawl or a towel.

Vishwanathan was in the hospital accompanying his wife, Bindu. She was admitted to the Institute of Maternal and Child Health (IMCH) for her first delivery. Having patiently waited all these years, Bindu delivered a baby boy on Wednesday, and the couple was overjoyed. Forget cuddling; the man had barely seen his newborn baby, which is primarily why the family refuted the police version of suicide.

Trouble began at dawn on Thursday, 9 February. Viswanathan was waiting outside the labor ward where Bindu was admitted when someone claimed they had lost their mobile phone and money. A group raised a ruckus alleging that Viswanathan was the thief. While some questioned him, a mob allegedly thrashed the innocent Janjati from Wayanad.

Viswanathan swore that his wife was admitted for delivery, but the assailants did not believe him. They took him to the hospital gate and handed him over to the security personnel. The security guards called Viswanathan’s mother-in-law Leela (the bye-stander), and asked her to come down. Only one lady can stay with the patient in the maternity ward.  

The IMCH on the Kozhikode Medical College Campus is an enormous building. With over 1,100 beds, the chaos is unimaginable. One can be excused if they feel they have reached Iran. A vast sea of black hijabs, their multiple children, and visitors move around 24 hours daily. 

The Kozhikode government medical college itself is the biggest of its kind in Asia. It caters primarily to the six northern districts of Kerala, ie. Malabar. There are over 3,000 beds, thousands of outpatients, and a casualty that works non-stop. 

Incidentally, medical seats at the Kozhikode Medical College are highly coveted. Reservations ensure that a majority who get entrance are Abrahamic.

Patients from the so-called minority community mainly occupy the hospital. They use every trick in the book to get preference and often employ violent means. To claim benefits and reservations for life, most shun private hospitals and end up here to give birth.

Communists, too, arrive and claim their pound of flesh. The police, security guards, and the administration turns a blind eye to the atrocities that those mentioned above two employ freely. Thus, the assertive ones get things done, while the others wait for hours, maybe days.

Local media readily highlights attacks on doctors by Hindus but remains tight-lipped when the violence involves other communities. One hundred thirty-seven attacks on doctors were registered in Kerala between January and November 2022. Most occur at government hospitals, and the ones on staff and nurses go grossly underreported.

Leela arrived near the gate and testified that Vishwanathan did not come to steal but to attend to his wife, Bindu. The unruly, lawless mob refused to believe her and allegedly continued to hit the janjati from Wayanad. His mother-in-law could only watch as the group physically abused Vishwananthan. 

As for the robbery charges, Raghavan said Viswanathan would not take anyone’s belongings. That’s how our father raised us, he added. The security guards should have intervened and stopped the attempts at lynching, but unfortunately, they did not. Some alleged that security personnel, too, thrashed Viswanathan.

When some people asked the ones who complained about the theft to lodge a police complaint, they refused. This proved that the whole thievery story was just a farce. Logic also dictates that a burglar would not stay in the same place once he has committed the crime. 

Embarrassed and hurt, with no forthcoming help, Viswanathan knew he would be killed if he stayed. The Janjatiya ran for his life, leaving behind some clothes, a mobile phone, chappals, and a tiffin box in a cover. The security personnel should have immediately intimated the police but did not. Incidentally, the IMCH gate is just opposite the Medical College police station.

Some media houses claimed Leela complained to Medical College Police that Vishwanathan was missing late at night on Thursday. Some claimed the family informed the police on Friday. They tried to insinuate that the family delayed the inquiry. These were blatant lies.

Viswanathan’s family approached the police as he did not return to the Medical College even after several hours of fleeing from the spot on 9 February. They went to the police station around 9 am on Thursday morning to complain. The police alleged that Raghavan was drunk and had come to cause trouble. They refused to register the complaint immediately.

One must remember that the Kerala government (including its police force) literally lives off the sale of liquor and gambling. The government charges a prohibitive 251% sales tax on liquor. The combined revenue from the sale of liquor and lottery constituted 36.05 percent of the state’s own income, while even the GST collection was just 32.66 percent.

By late 2021, the Kerala government received Rs 46,546.13 crores in the last five years through taxation on liquor. It has undoubtedly crossed the 50 thousand crores dubious club by now. This prompted Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan to scorn the Kerala government’s fiscal management. “Lottery and alcohol are our main sources of income. What a shame!” he said.

Unfortunately, this does not mean that Keralites have decreased their consumption of alcohol or lotteries. Beg, borrow, or steal; Malayalees will tipple shamelessly.

Leela, Viswanathan’s mother-in-law, who accompanied Raghavan, concurred that the Medical college did not take the complaint seriously. Both were left to fend for themselves and searched for Viswanathan all day.

Meanwhile, Bindu, who had just given birth, waited patiently for food and, more importantly, for her husband’s return. In the hospital, there was no one to help except a woman who came to attend to another patient. Unfortunately, Viswanathan never came back.

Viswanathan’s brother Raghavan said there were assault marks on the body. Both Raghavan and his wife Yesodha alleged that the postmortem on the body was carried out without obtaining the consent of his relatives. By the time we arrived to sign, the autopsy had begun. I don’t even know when the postmortem was done, said Viswanathan’s brother.

The Janjatiya family visited the police station several times. Police officers insulted them sarcastically, saying, ‘many reach from Wayanad and claim someone is missing.’ In desperation, Viswanathan’s brother said he was ready for the medical examination to prove that he was sober. This was when they registered a case! So much so for being the safest place on the planet, as claimed by communist leaders.

However, police initially claimed that Leela did not complain at the station. They started an investigation immediately after receiving a written complaint. Medical college police also maintained that they had not insulted those who arrived to file the complaint.

Kerala Police Investigation

Incidentally, five of the top seven officials posted at Kozhikode medical college are Abrahamic. The official Kerala police website does not carry the phone numbers of those two Hindu officers, but the rest are available. Complacency on Fridays is well known; that is precisely what happened last Friday too. It also shows a better representation of the demography in Malabar (northern Kerala).

Legal experts pointed out that the least the police could do was file charges for assault, attempted murder, and abetment to suicide. They should add conspiracy too. This has not been done as yet.

Viswanathan’s funeral was held at his house premises on Sunday. His wife and mother wailed inconsolably.    

Even on Monday, police officers who examined the scene of death and recovered the body said there were no mysterious reasons to suspect behind the unnatural death. Quoting the postmortem report and the observations made by the medical team, they clarified that there were no bodily injuries or signs of mortal manhandling. 

Who hurried the autopsy? Why did a senior police officer overseeing the ongoing investigation also record the statement of a doctor who conducted the postmortem examination? Why did Medical College Station Inspector and Station House Officer (SHO) Benny Lalu M L record the information of the security staff about the suspected individuals who were present on the spot?

District Police Chief (Kozhikode city) Rajpal Meena claimed that the police were yet to get CCTV footage indicating the alleged mob attack. Medical experts pointed out that the whole hospital (including the campus) is under surveillance, without which no sane doctor will dare step into the facility. Ideally, a third-party investigation into the incident should help clear the lynching charges.

The Kerala State Human Rights Commission took up a case over the suspicious death at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital. It asked the Assistant Commissioner of Police and IMCH officials to file reports within a week.

Janjatiya organization, the Kerala Pattikajathi & Pattikavarga Samrakshana Samiti, called for a high-level probe by Central agencies into the incident. They alleged that local police were trying to hush up the facts. They want an intensified examination to track all those allegedly involved in the suspected public trial and assault on the Janjatiya.

Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi

Interestingly, Congress chief Rahul Gandhi who chanted Modi-Adani at the wrong time (the motion of thanks on the President’s address) in parliament, went missing on Monday. Since it was question hour, ideally, he should have questioned the BJP on Monday, provided he had evidence of a nexus between PM Modi and Adani. Instead, his allies proved to be clowns when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman informed them that Kerala had not submitted audited CAG reports from 2017-18.

Meanwhile, Gandhi landed at Kozhikode airport, and his cronies made a beeline for his constituency Wayanad. The disaster tourist visited Viswanathan’s home and interacted with the victim’s family. Later, Gandhi was seen giving a public lecture where he shamelessly compared the body language of PM Modi and himself.

Since the alleged lynching of a Janjatiya did not happen in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, or any BJP-ruled state, local media downplayed the incident. National media were nowhere to be seen.

Suspiciously, one allegedly Congress-leaning website even claimed that “Viswanathan’s brother Raghavan may be behind Viswanathan’s death.” Such online publications are easily identifiable by their praise for the flop show, Bharat Jodo Yatra. HinduPost seriously wishes that it was a grammar mistake and has posted the archived version here.