Probe ordered into murder of youth leaders

Ashraf Padanna

Kerala High Court has transferred the investigation into the killings of two young opposition leaders in February to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The court sharply criticised the state police for its shoddy investigation aimed at shielding leaders of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPM leaders.

Police had arrested 14 activists of the CPM and seized the weapons used to kill local Youth Congress leaders Sarath Lal, 24, and Kripesh, 19, in northern Kasaragod district.

Following the twin-murder, violence erupted in their Kalliot village with angry mobs targeting homes and offices of CPM. Their parents moved the court demanding a federal probe.

The court accepted their argument that they would not get justice from state police who were trying to shield the ruling party from the beginning not arresting the real culprits.

Justice B Sudheendra Kumar who passed the order on Monday also observed that the ruling party leaders could have planned the twin murder executed by its killer squad.

Cancelling the charge-sheet filed by the police, he said the investigation was not “impartial and unbiased” under its crime branch team.

The court asked why the police ignored the observation of the forensic surgeon that the weapons they seized were incapable of inflicting the wounds found in their bodies.

It also observed that the police believed the culprits than the witnesses and none who conspired the twin murder were on the list of defendants.

Going through the charge-sheet, the court also observed that the statements of the culprits were like “gospel truth” for the investigators.

The killers first went to the party office after carrying it out on the night of February 17. It rejected the police argument that there was no evidence to link the local legislator, KV Kunhiraman, and CPM leader VPP Musthafa.

It was the fourth political killing the court transferred to the elite federal investigators in which CPM leaders stand accused. The defenders in at least two such cases include senior leader P Jayarajan who is now out on bail. Following the court verdict, Congress party’s president in Kerala, Mullappally Ramachandran, sought the resignation of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

“He stands exposed as he tried to sabotage the investigation into the most-brutal political killings Kerala has ever seen,” he said in a statement.