Thiruvananthapuram, Aug. 13: A Kerala magistrate today sent a CPM legislator to judicial custody in connection with a murder of a Muslim League worker, but that wasn’t the only bad news of the day for the party.
State police charge-sheeted 76 party leaders in the brutal killing of a CPM rebel, whose murder has led to popular revulsion.
T.V. Rajesh, party MLA from Alliasseri in the Marxist stronghold of Kannur, surrendered before the magistrate’s court after the high court rejected his plea for anticipatory bail. He was remanded in judicial custody till August 27.
The police had charged Rajesh and the party’s Kannur district secretary, P. Jayarajan, under IPC Section 118 (concealing design to commit an offence) in connection with the murder of League activist Abdul Shukoor.
Shukoor, according to the police, was killed in February in Keezhara, apparently to avenge an attack on CPM leaders while they were in the area to take stock of the situation following a clash between Muslim League and Marxist cadres.
Jayarajan was arrested on August 1. His arrest had triggered widespread vandalism by party cadres in the district, prompting the Congress-led state government to request the Union home ministry to send central forces.
Two units of the Rapid Action Force, which operates under the CRPF, were then moved to Kannur from Tamil Nadu’s Coimbatore.
In the other case, the chargesheet filed today by a special investigation team cited political reasons for the murder of party rebel T.P. Chandrasekharan, who had broken away to form his own outfit.
Chandrasekharan had floated the Revolutionary Marxist Party in 2008 after parting ways and his presence as a candidate in the 2011 Lok Sabha elections from Vatakara had spoilt the CPM candidate’s chances. The police said rivalry between cadres of the two parties contributed to the May 4 murder.
The chargesheet names 76 accused. The list includes a CPM local committee member, K.C. Ramachandran, Kozhikode district secretariat member P. Mohanan, an area secretary, C.H. Asokan, and an area committee member, P.K. Kunjananthan.
The 1000-page document also mentions a CPM MLA, K.K. Ragesh, as an accused for allegedly helping the alleged mastermind evade arrest.
