The Kerala Government on Tuesday informed the High Court that one of the accused in the case pertaining to the chopping off of the right hand of a college professor eight years ago had played an prominent role in the conspiracy behind the murder of Abhimanyu (20), an activist of pro-CPI(M) students’ wing SFI, at a Kochi college over two weeks back.
In an affidavit submitted in the court, the Government said that Kochi native Manaf, an activist of the SDPI, political wing of Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), and who was an accused in the hand-chopping case, had played a prominent role in the conspiracy that had led to the murder of Abhimanyu. All the accused in this case were SDPI activists.
The Government’s submission in the court came amidst reports that those accused in the hand-chopping case, which is being seen perhaps as the first extremist attack to take place in Kerala, could have connections with the SFI worker’s killing. Demands have already come up for NIA probe into the incident at the Kochi college.
SFI activist Abhimanyu, a second-year degree student of Government Maharaja’s College, was stabbed to death by a 15-member gang on the college campus on July 1 midnight following a conflict between workers of the SFI and Campus Front of India (CFI), the students’ wing of the PFI, over poster campaign for welcoming newly admitted students to the campus.
In the affidavit submitted in response to the petitions filed by the wives of Manaf and Shameer, another SDPI activist from Palluruthi, Kochi who according to the police had helped Abhimanyu’s murderers to go into hiding, alleging police harassment, the Government said the probe into the incident was progressing independently and the SDPI was trying to derail it.
The Government also said that the mobile phone of Shameer’s wife was used for helping Abhimanyu’s murderers escape. It also told the court that Manaf and Shameer were in hiding and intense search was on to find them. The mother of Campus Front activist Aadil from Aluva near Kochi, who was arrested in the case the other day, also had filed a similar petition.
The court dismissed the pleas after the Government said notices would be issued before questioning the petitioners. All the 15 persons named as accused in the Abhimanyu murder case are activists of SDPI and Campus Front. According to eyewitnesses, only two members of the gang were students of the college and all the others were SDPI activists.
The police have so far arrested nine accused in the case and search is going on for the remaining culprits even as protests are raging against the failure of the police in nabbing the culprits even 16 days after the incident. Many political parties have already called for an NIA probe into the murder in this context and also because of the suspected terror connections of the incident.
The right hand of TJ Joseph of Muvattupuzha in Ernakulam district was chopped off allegedly by a gang of SDPI activists on July 4, 2010 when he was a professor at the Church-run Newman’s College, Thodupuzha by accusing him of blaspheming Prophet Muhammad through a question paper he had prepared for his students.
Earlier in the day, the High Court expressed displeasure at the Government’s failure to implement its earlier judgements on controlling politics and political activities on college campuses. It was the failure to implement the court’s earlier order in this regard that had led to the shocking murder of the SFI activist, it pointed out.