KK Rama, widow of rebel Marxist leader TP Chandrasekharan of Onchiyam in Kerala’s Kozhikode district, who was murdered by a CPI(M) killer gang, and leader of the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP), on Friday ended her indefinite fast in Thiruvananthapuram demanding a CBI probe into the conspiracy behind the murder.
Rama called off the fast she had begun on February 3 at the gates of the State Secretariat after Chief Minister Oommen Chandy informed the RMP leadership that the Government had decided “in principle” to institute a CBI investigation as the widow had desired but an order on the probe would be issued “only after the legal, technical and other formalities are fulfilled”.
Though there was no information on when the CBI probe would be ordered, RMP State secretary N Venu said, “The agitation by Rama and RMP has been a huge success. That the Government has decided to institute a CBI probe into the conspiracy behind the murder proves that our agitation has been a success.” Asked whether the RMP would go for another agitation if the Government did not issue the order on CBI probe in the expected time, Venu said, “That question is irrelevant at this point of time. The Chief Minister has told us that the Government has decided to leave the case to the CBI. We trust him.” The demand for CBI probe had infuriated the CPI(M).
Rama, the RMP, its supporters and a section of the Congress-led ruling UDF are convinced that Chandrasekharan’s brutal murder on May 4, 2012 was the result of a heinous conspiracy hatched by CPI(M) functionaries with the knowledge of its top leadership. Rama had even said that the roots of the conspiracy could be found in the CPI(M) Politburo itself.
The Special Additional Sessions Court at Eranhipalam, which had heard the Chandrasekharan murder case had on January 22 convicted three prominent CPI(M) leaders for conspiracy and had awarded them life imprisonment. The court had convicted 12 accused while acquitted 24 including a senior leader of the CPI(M), Kozhikode district secretariat member P Mohanan. The CPI(M) has been opposing the demand for a CBI probe into the alleged conspiracy saying that there was no provision under Indian laws for such a step in a case which had already been settled by a court after formal trial, a view with which legal experts and even the State Government agreed to a great extent.
Sticking to its objections to a CBI probe, the CPI(M) on Friday termed Rama’s fast as a wet cracker. State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said that Kerala had never seen such a “ridiculous” agitation. Pinarayi reiterated his earlier charge that the fast was held as per a pre- screenplay jointly written by the RMP and the UDF. Protests against the Government had intensified on Friday morning as it was unable to take a concrete decision on the demand for a CBI probe into the conspiracy behind the murder even after Rama’s fast had covered four full days and her health had deteriorated. The ‘in-principle’ decision to bring in the CBI was taken at a Cabinet meeting on Friday.