The District and Sessions Court in Thalassery, Kannur on Saturday rejected the anticipatory bail plea filed by P Jayarajan, a top leader of the Kerala CPI(M), in the case pertaining to the murder of RSS functionary Manoj of Elanthodath. The CBI, which is probing the conspiracy behind the murder, had on January 21 named Jayarajan, CPI(M)’s Kannur district secretary, as 25th accused.
Bail could not be granted in the case as it had been registered under provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the has court said. This was the third time that his anticipatory bail plea had been rejected. On the two earlier occasions, the court had rejected the bail plea on the basis of the CBI’s submission that Jayarajan had not been made an accused in the case.
Complaining that the Thalassery court had rejected the bail plea merely on the basis of allegations against Jayarajan, his lawyer said they would now approach the High Court. As the bail plea has been rejected, the CBI can now arrest Jayarajan, who is presently under treatment at the CPI(M)-controlled AKG Memorial Cooperative Hospital in Thalassery.
Jayarajan’s lawyer had argued in the court that he deserved anticipatory bail as bail had been granted to Madhusoodanan, 20th accused in the case against whom also provisions under UAPA had been evoked. But the CBI opposed the argument saying that granting bail to Jayarajan could adversely affect the investigation.
“This decision of the Thalassery court may have far-reaching consequences in the sense that if a political leader like Jayarajan could be put behind bars merely on the basis of allegations just because the UAPA factor the ordinary citizens’ protection which law should guarantee will come under serious threat,” said the lawyer.
Jayarajan had complained in the bail plea that the CBI, which had till some days ago been saying that he was not an accused, was becoming part of a move for settling political scores and that it was acting as per the agenda set by the leadership of the RSS. CBI sources, however, said that a decision on arrest would be taken on the basis of Jayarajan’s health condition.
With the rejection of the bail application, the whole attention of the Kannur CPI(M) is now riveted on the moves the CBI may take. Discussions raged in the CPI(M) on Saturday about the steps the party should take if the CBI tried to arrest Jayarajan from the party-controlled hospital where he was undergoing treatment.
The CPI(M) is viewing the naming of Jayarajan as an accused in the case and the rejection of his bail plea as a big setback just when he was leading the left’s efforts to ensure a huge victory in Kannur in the Assembly polls to be held in May. The party leadership has already interpreted the case against him as a ploy to keep him behind bars during the election.
Manoj, Kannur district Sharirik Shikshan Pramukh of the RSS, was hacked to death by a Marxist killer gang on September 1, 2014 when he was proceeding from Kathiroor to Kannur in his Maruti Omni vehicle. The killers had dragged him out and hacked him to death after creating a terror scene by hurling country-made bombs at the vehicle.
The case was first investigated by a special team of the Crime Branch of the Kerala Police, which had named 18 Marxists as accused and had made UAPA applicable in the case. The Kerala Government later handed over the investigation to the CBI in following pressures from the BJP and RSS for a probe into the conspiracy behind the murder.
According to the CBI, it was Jayarajan’s personal enmity towards Manoj which had resulted in the murder. Manoj was a key accused in the case pertaining to the attempt on Jayarajan’s life on the Onam day of 1999. Also, the attempts of Manoj to woo Marxist party workers in Kannur into the RSS and BJP had enraged Jayarajan, district CPI(M) chief, the agency said.
