COIMBATORE:Suspected Maoist Roopesh, who is allegedly into day 14 of an indefinite hunger strike in the Coimbatore Central Prison, has become “very weak” and has lost around 12 kg of weight, his lawyers have claimed. Meanwhile, another alleged Maoist, J Anoop, who was arrested along with Roopesh and three others, is into the fourth day of his fast. On Friday, four of them – Anoop, C Easwaran, Kannan and Roopesh’s wife, Shyna, were produced before the Principal District Judge R Pongiappan. Roopesh was not brought because of his fast.
Five lawyers representing the alleged Maoists – S Balamurugan, Mohammed Abubacker, Shekhar Annadurai, Murugesan and Nicholas – visited Roopesh in prison. They said Roopesh had told them that he had been force fed milk. The lawyers urged him to give up the fast and told him that he should continue his fight through the legal system. However, Roopesh told them that knowing how many cases had been formally registered against him was his fundamental right; he has asked the Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala to clarify the matter. The lawyers said he feared that the Kerala government was keeping in abeyance cases in which he would be made an accused if he was released from prison if the current charges against him are dismissed by the court. The next hearing in the case has been posted for August 19.
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