Amidst strike, stones hurled at lorry in Kerala, cleaner dies of injuries

The stone pelting resulted in the death of Mubarak Basha (29), a native of Tamil Nadu.

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In a shocking incident on Monday, stones were hurled at a moving truck in Kanjikode, in Palakkad district killing one person. The incident happened at 3 am on Monday morning, right before the Kanjikode Federal Bank near the Walayar check post.

According to reports, around 15 people pelted stones at the moving lorry which was carrying vegetables from Coimbatore to Alappuzha, killing 29-year-old Mubarak Basha. Mubarak was the lorry's cleaner and hailed from Mettupalayam in Tamil Nadu.

The strike by the All India Motor Transport Congress strike enters its fourth day on Monday and according to the lorry driver and owner, unions supporting the strike had pelted stones in a bid to stop vehicles from entering Kerala through the Walayer check post.

"The stones hit the lorry, the windshield broke. The glass pieces pierced through Mubarak," Noorulla, the driver told Malayalam media.

Following this, Mubarak was taken to a private hospital in the vicinity.

"They told us that he was critical and needed to be taken to the District Government Hospital in Palakkad. We rushed there, but at the hospital we were told that he had already died," said Noorulla.

The driver and the owner of the lorry, a man originally from Kerala, have blamed the lorry associations that were striking of throwing stones at the vehicle

However, the Lorry Owners' Association has denied any involvement in the incident, stating that those who threw stones did not belong to their organisation

"We suspect that some anti-social elements who wanted to defeat the strike are behind this. The police should investigate and find who were behind the crime," KK Hamsa, the President of the Lorry Owners Association told Asianet News.