In a big setback to the Kerala CPI(M), the High Court on Thursday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of its top leader P Jayarajan in the case pertaining to the brutal murder of RSS leader Manoj of Elanthodath in 2014. Jayarajan, Kannur district secretary of the CPI(M), is the 25th accused in the case.
The CBI, which is investigating the case, may arrest Jayarajan (63) any moment now. The CPI(M) leader’s options are now limited to undergoing arrest, surrendering before a court and appealing against the High Court order. Jayarajan is presently under treatment at a hospital in Thalassery, Kannur for reported heart problems.
The CPI(M), which argues that Jayarajan had no role in the murder and that the CBI is acting as per the diktats of the RSS leadership, said it would fight the case legally and politically. Jayarajan is also a key accused in the case pertaining to the murder of Muslim league activist Abdul Shukoor, the probe of which has now been handed over to the CBI by the High Court.
A division bench of the High Court comprising Justices KT Sankaran and KP Jyotheendranath on Thursday dismissed the Marxist leader’s bail application by accepting almost all the arguments presented by the CBI. The political position of the accused was of no importance as law was equally applicable to all, the court observed.
The most important aspect of the case on which the division bench agreed with the investigating agency was perhaps the imposition of charges under the UAPA against Jayarajan. The District and Sessions Court in Thalassery had earlier rejected his bail application three times following which he had approached the High Court.
Stating that it was convinced about the role of Jayarajan in the murder of Manoj after examining the case diary, the division bench said UAPA was absolutely maintainable in the case, prima facie. It said the criterion for imposing provisions of UAPA in a case was not the number of people killed but its terror nature.
Observing that the murder of Manoj was brutal and pre-planned, the court agreed with the CBI’s contention that Jayarajan was the only person who harboured personal enmity towards Manoj and P Vikraman, first accused in the case who was in the forefront of attack against the victim, was his close associate.
The CBI had the other day told the court that Jayarajan had masterminded the murder, organized the killers and provided shelter for them. It had also informed the court about the inevitability of Jayarajan’s arrest and the necessity of questioning him in custody. The court in its Thursday order allowed the agency to go ahead with its procedures in the case.
State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan alleged that the CBI had named Jayarajan as an accused as a result of the pressures RSS Sarsanghchalak Mohan Bhagwat and BJP president Amit Shah exerted on the CBI through the Central Government. “Also, Kerala’s Congress-led Government and the CBI have joined hands against the CPI(M),” he said.