Kochi | Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan and Ernakulam District Congress Committee president Mohammed Shiyas were granted interim bail by a magisterial court on Tuesday after being arrested by police last night in connection with a protest.

Kuzhalnadan said that he and Shiyas were released on interim bail by the court today morning. On Monday, they were taken into custody by the police in connection with the alleged untoward incidents during a protest at Kothamangalam near here sparked by the death of an elderly woman in an elephant attack in Idukki district.

Speaking to reporters at the protest venue in Kothamangalam, the MLA said non-bailable provisions of IPC, the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, and Kerala Health Workers' Act were invoked against them.

He claimed that it was the police which provoked the protestors three times.

"In view of the unwarranted police action, we will strengthen our protest. They wanted to jail me for at least a day, but it was unsuccessful. The government has been working for sometime to target me," he alleged.

The protest yesterday was led by Kuzhalnadan and Idukki MP Dean Kuriakose with hundreds of locals joining in. They refused to hand over the body of the elephant-attack victim, Indira Ramakrishnan, for post-mortem.

A scuffle broke out with the police during the protest.

The body was reportedly forcibly taken from the mortuary for the protest, leading to heated exchanges between the police and the leaders. The 70-year-old woman died after being attacked by a wild elephant in the Kanjiraveli area in Idukki yesterday.

She was trampled by the elephant while serving breakfast for her husband in a rubber plantation near the forest area.

Despite being rushed to a nearby hospital in Kothamangalam, she succumbed to her injuries.