The CBI is likely to name P Jayarajan, secretary of the CPI(M) in Kerala’s Kannur district, as an accused in the case pertaining to the murder of RSS leader KT Manoj of Elanthodathil in Kathiroor in the district in last September. Jayarajan has already submitted an anticipatory bail plea in a Kannur court.
The CBI’s argument is said to be that Jayarajan could have entered into a conspiracy with P Vikraman, first accused, to murder Manoj, who was the fifth accused in the case relating to the attempt on Jayarajan’s life 16 years ago. The Kerala CPI(M) on Friday alleged that the CBI was considering making Jayarajan an accused as per instructions from the RSS.
According to the CBI, there were two reasons behind the murder of Manoj, reports said. The first was Jayarajan’s enmity towards him for his role in the attempt to murder him on August 25, 1999. The other reason was that the CPI(M) leadership’s worry over the massive flow of Marxist workers and sympathizers into the BJP and RSS in Thalassery and other areas of Kannur district.
The CBI feels that Manoj’s murder was planned and executed with the CPI(M) leadership’s knowledge as part of a scheme to stop the flow of its workers into Sangh Pariwar outfits. It is said that Jayarajan had got clear indications that the CBI was convinced of his role in the conspiracy when he was questioned by the agency at Thiruvananthapuram on June 2.
Manoj, Kannur district Sharirik Shiksha Pramukh of the RSS, was hacked to death by a Marxist killer gang on September 1 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. The Kerala Government later handed over the investigation to the CBI in the context of pressures from the BJP and RSS.
The investigating agency is said to have collected the details of telephone conversations between Jayarajan and Vikraman when the latter was undergoing treatment in Bangalore three months before the murder of Manoj. It has also reportedly concluded that Vikraman was very close to Jayarajan and that he used to handle affairs at the CPI(M) leader’s house.
The CBI has also learned that it was Jayarajan who had instructed CPI(M)’s Payyannur area secretary TI Madhusoodanan, who was the other day named as accused, to provide necessary assistance to Vikraman after Manoj’s murder. Indications are that Madhusoodanan could be arrested shortly.
Jayarajan, currently undergoing treatment at the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital in Kannur, is said to be under the constant watch of the CBI. The CPI(M) district secretary is already the 32nd accused in the case pertaining to the murder of 21-year-old Muslim league worker Abdul Shukoor in Ariyil, Kannur on February 20, 2012.
Meanwhile, State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan alleged on Friday that the CBI was planning to book Jayarajan as per instructions from the RSS. “This is part of a well-planned move. The BJP is using the Central Government and the Congress is using power in the State against CPI(M) leaders,” Kodiyeri said.
According to Kodiyeri, this move was being made in the context of the local bodies elections to be held in October. “They are planning to slap cases on senior CPI(M) leaders with the objective of keeping them away from the election scene,” he said.
Meanwhile, the District and Sessions Court in Thalassery will take up the anticipatory bail petition filed by Jayarajan on July 22. The CBI had the other day told the court that it had not listed the CPI(M) leader as an accused but Jayarajan’s counsel said an investigating official had told one of the accused that the case would be used to destroy the Marxist party.