Kerala Police on Thursday registered an FIR against one of the state’s leading industrialists, Sabu M Jacob, based on a complaint by a CPI-M activist for allegedly insulting local Legislator PV Sreenijin, during a speech he made recently.

Jacob was booked under Section 153 of the IPC (can lead to a riot) on Thursday.

The complaint against Jacob stated that at a meeting last Sunday, he belittled Sreenijin while addressing Twenty20, the Ernakulam-based political outfit backed by his business empire Kitex Group.

Jacob is the chief coordinator of Twenty20 which rules four village councils in the district.

Sreenijin and Jacob have been at loggerheads for a while.

On Monday Sreenijin had filed a complaint on charges under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Jacob.

However the present FIR has been registered on the complaint of a CPI-M worker.

Jacob and his political outfit have denied any wrongdoing on the plea that he never named anyone in his speech.

Incidentally in 2022 too, Sreenijin registered a complaint against Jacob alleging that he was belittled and a case was registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

However, at that time the High Court gave Jacob relief stating that he should not be arrested.

Jacob and the CPI-M have a running feud and he sprang a surprise when he decided to invest over Rs 3,000 crore in a new garment factory in Telangana, after he was invited by the state government there.

The Telangana ferried Jacob to the state on a chartered flight in January 2022 and the unit has now started functioning.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)