A personal assistant of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was among four persons associated with the party to be arrested in Wayanad on Friday for allegedly vandalising a photograph of Mahatma Gandhi.

Rahul’s assistant K.R. Ratheesh, office staff S.R. Rahul and party workers K.A. Mujeeb and V. Naushad were arrested for allegedly damaging the photograph after members of the CPM-backed Students Federation of India (SFI) vandalised the Wayanad MP’s office on June 24. The quartet allegedly did this to frame the SFI activists.

All four have since been released on police station bail.

An SFI march against Rahul’s alleged inaction in connection with the issue of buffer zones around forests had turned violent and led to vandalism of his office in Kalpetta, Wayanad.

Several SFI activists were arrested and booked for assault and vandalism.

The Congress had accused the SFI workers of insulting Mahatma Gandhi by removing his picture from the wall and flinging it on the floor.

The SFI had denied the allegations and released video footage and pictures that showed Mahatma Gandhi’s portrait was on the wall well after the incident. Instead, they accused Congress workers of entering the premises after the incident and throwing the picture on the floor to frame the SFI workers.

Subsequently, the police booked a case and issued notices to five Congress workers, including Rahul’s office staff, to appear before them on Wednesday or Thursday, which they ignored. One of their alleged accomplices is still at large.

Ratheesh told reporters on Friday that the arrest was based on false accusations.

“The police are trying to frame us in a false case,” he said before being taken away as party workers staged a protest outside Kalpetta police station.

The SFI march that led to the vandalism was against the alleged inaction of Rahul in exerting pressure on the Union government over a Supreme Court order declaring a 1km radius around all wildlife reserves and national parks as ecologically sensitive zones where no development or construction would be allowed.

Locals fear loss of livelihood in such a scenario.