In a major breakthrough in the case pertaining to the murder of RSS leader Choor-
akkad Biju (34) in Payyannur, Kannur, the Kerala Police has arrested main accused Anoop, DYFI leader and CPI(M) activist, pushing the Marxist party’s leadership, which has so far claimed that it has nothing to do with the killing, into a difficult situation.
According to the police, they had taken into custody Anoop, leader of the seven-member gang that had hacked Biju, Karyavahak of the RSS in Ramanthali, to death from the State Road Transport bus station in Payyannur late Monday night but there were reports that he himself had appeared before the investigating officers accompanied by some CPI(M) leaders.
Police officials said Anoop, member of the CPI(M)’s Ramanthali local committee and treasurer of the DYFI’s Payyannur block committee, had played a decisive role in planning and executing the murder of Biju. With the arrest of Anoop, five of the total seven accused in the Biju murder case, have fallen into the police net.
The others arrested so far are P Sathyan (33), of Kunnaru, V Jithin (31), of Kakkampara, Naduvile Purayil Rineesh (28), and Kunduvalappil Jyothish (26). Of the two accused remaining to be arrested, one, Prajeesh alias Kuttan, has reportedly fled the country. All the accused are activists or sympathisers of the CPI(M) or its feeder outfits.
The seven-member Marxist killer gang had murdered Biju on the evening of May 12 at Palakkod near Pazhayangadi in Payyannur. The killers had waylaid him as he as travelling on a motorbike driven by his friend Rajesh using a rented Toyota Innova car and four members of the gang, including Anoop, hacked him to death, according to the police.
The police have learned that Anoop and the gang had been stalking Biju, 12th accused in the murder of DYFI leader CV Dhanaraj (38), in Ramanthali last July, for quite some time. They had rented the Innova car for the purpose on April 25. Investigators are of the feeling that the arrest of Anoop would help them to expedite the probe in the murder case.
Anoop’s arrest has pushed the Kerala CPI(M), particularly its leadership in Kannur district, into a difficult situation. The party had first claimed that it had nothing to do with the murder of the RSS leader in Ramanthali but State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan later said that the party would offer no protection if anyone from it had any involvement in the crime.
“This is a tactic the CPI(M) has employed whenever an RSS-BJP man got killed in Kannur. Immediately after every incident they would claim to have no connection with it. Then they would say stringent action would be taken if any partyman was found involved. But in the end we would see them arranging lawyers for the accused,” said a senior BJP leader.