Razak Payambrote, 57, cultural activist and former secretary of Moyinkutty Vaidyar Mapila Kala Academy, Kondotty, was found hanging at the veranda of the Pulikkal grama panchayat office on Friday.
His death, an apparent case of suicide allegedly in protest against the apathy of the panchayat authorities towards a series of complaints he had made against a plastic waste treatment plant, sparked a wave of protests as people blamed it on the local body. The CPI(M) is ruling the panchayat.
Razak was a CPI(M) supporter and had donated his land to the party for the construction of a building in memory of Communist ideologue E.M.S. Namboodiripad.
