Thousands of people from different walks of life paid homage to actor and former MP of Chalakudy Innocent at the Irinjalakuda Town Hall and his residence, Parppidam, on Monday.
His body will be laid to rest at the cemetery of St. Thomas Cathedral, Irinjalakuda, on Tuesday.
People thronged the town hall and surroundings to have a glimpse of their favourite actor when his body was brought from the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium, Kadavanthra. Innocent always kept a close link with people of Irinjalakuda. Innocent, who started his political career as a municipal councillor of the Irinjalakuda municipality in 1979, later became the Chalakudy MP in 2014.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reached the town hall with his wife Kamala by 3.30 p.m. Innocent’s wife and son Sonnet broke down when the Chief Minister and his wife tried to console them. Speaker A.N. Shamseer also paid homage to the actor. Minister for Higher Education R. Bindu accompanied the body from Kadavanthra to Irinjalakuda.
Actor Mohanlal, Ministers K. Radhakrishnan and M.B. Rajesh; MLAs E.T. Tyson and K.K. Ramachandran; district panchayat president K.P. Davis; former Ministers A.C. Moideen, C. Raveendranath and V.S. Sunil Kumar; former government chief whip Thomas Unniyadan; District Collector Krishna Teja; Sahitya Akademi president K. Satchidanandan; and various socio-political leaders paid homage.
A large number of film personalities, including directors Sathyan Anthikkad and Priyadarsan, actors Biju Menon, Joju George, Tovino Thomas and Rachana Narayanan Kutty, and music director Vidyadharan were among those who reached the Irinjalakuda town hall.
Minister R. Bindu remembered Innocent as an efficient political leader, who manged to bring huge development to his constituency Chalakudy.
“Innocent, who was elected from Chalakudy in 2014, brought many projects to his constituency. His demise is a huge loss for the cinema and political fields. Even during his busy schedule as a film personality, he was active in socio-cultural sectors in Irinjalakuda,” she said.
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