The special Crime Branch police team probing the murder of RSS leader Manoj in Kannur, Kerala has charged the accused under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) even as the State Government assured BJP-RSS leaders that it would consider their demand for recommending an investigation into the killing by a Central agency.
The police registered a case under the IT Act against Jain Raj, son of CPI(M)’s Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan over his Facebook post congratulating the Marxist killers of Manoj and expressing happiness in the murder.He had made the posting within an hour of the murder triggering allegation that he had prior knowledge of the plan for the killing.
The special team booked the accused under Section 13 (A) of the UAPA considering the creation of terror situation with bomb blasts and murder by throat-slitting. This is the first time a case has been charged under UAPA in the State in a case of political murder but Additional DGP (CB) S Ananthakrishnan said the team was yet to decide whether this was a political killing.
“UAPA had been made applicable at the stage of registration of the case itself,” Ananthakrishnan said. As the UAPA provision has been made applicable, the eight accused in the case may not get bail and will have to undergo up to seven years’ imprisonment if found guilty. It could also make easier the takeover of the investigation by agencies like the NIA, security experts said.
CPI(M) leaders alleged that the decision to make UAPA applicable in the case was proof of State Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress dancing to the tune of the RSS-BJP while independent observers opined that the decision could have been to pacify the RSS and the BJP which were doing everything possible to get a Central agency to probe the murder.
Manoj, Kannur district Sharirik Shikshan Pramukh of the RSS, was murdered allegedly by a Marxist killer gang at Diamond Mukku, Kathiroor near Thalassery in Kannur on September 1. The killers had first hurled country bombs at the Maruti Omni vehicle in which Manoj was travelling and brutally hacked him to death using swords.
Within an hour of the murder, Jain Raj, presently in the Gulf, had said in his Facebook post, “Greetings dear comrades, How long have I been waiting to hear this happy news (of Manoj’s murder)!” After the post triggered a controversy, it was removed from Jain Raj’s FB page but he made another post justifying his comment.
“As a son, I will feel happy if I hear that the man who had made my father a cripple and had dipped my childhood in blood is lying dead on the street,” he wrote on his FB page later. Slain RSS leader Manoj was fifth accused in the case pertaining to the attempt to murder Jain Raj’s father Jayarajan at his house in East Kathiroor on August 25, 1999.
While several CPI(M) leaders protested against the booking of Jain Raj under the IT Act, Opposition leader and party central committee member VS Achuthanandan said it was just a natural part of the police procedure. “Whenever and wherever a murder happens, the police have to take the necessary steps and do a thorough probe to find the culprits,” he said.
Meanwhile, a team of BJP and RSS leaders met Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at his office in Thiruvananthapuram to demand a probe by a Central agency into the murder of Manoj. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala was also present at the meeting. The Sangh Pariwar has already made it clear that they would accept nothing less than a CBI investigation.
After the meeting, the leaders said that the Chief Minister had assured them that the Government would consider their demand. The BJP had said that it would approach the Centre directly if the State Government refused to recommend a CBI investigation into the murder of Manoj.