Ever heard of murder-accused detainees getting opportunity to enjoy life in prison by being able to walk around in shorts, colourful T-shirts and cooling glasses and talk freely with anyone and everyone over the mobile and remain active on Facebook… and moreIJ All this seems possible if one is a murder-accused Marxist under detention in a Kerala prison.
Information has now come out that six of the first seven accused in the sensational case pertaining to the murder of rebel Marxist leader TP Chandrasekharan have been using smartphones, posting and sharing contents and pictures on the Facebook and taking photographs in any dresses they liked at the District Prison in Kozhikode in total violation of jail rules.
The accused have been indulging in these illegal activities — with the obvious connivance of the prison authorities — when they were under judicial remand at the district prison. Director General of Police (Prisons) Alexander Jacob on Monday ordered a probe into the matter and said he would carry out on-the-spot inspection at the prison.
The accused including Kodi Suni, Kirmani Manoj and Muhammad Shafi, who were members of the seven-man Marxist killer gang that had hacked Chandrasekharan to death on May 4, 2012, have been posting and sharing hundreds of pictures and had been conversing with their FB friends on a host of matters ranging from revolution to annihilation theory to films and culture.
These murder-accused Marxists have been posting and sharing messages that have even been justifying murderous politics. The Facebook posts made by an accused and shared by many included a salute to State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan whom the poster described as Kerala’s future CM.
Almost all of these seven Marxist murder-accused have been talking over their mobiles — some using i-Phones — from inside the jail since June, 2012 to recent days during which time dozens of Prosecution witnesses in the Chandrasekharan murder case had turned hostile, generating suspicion that the accused could have been using their phones to influence the witnesses.
Ever since 20 accused in the case were acquitted by the High Court two months ago and several witnesses had turned hostile, complaints had come up that there was perhaps a “deal” between some sections in the Government and the CPI(M) to protect the accused in the Chandrasekharan murder case.
This is not the first time the accused in the Chandrasekharan murder case had been getting ‘VIP’ treatment at the District Prison in Kozhikode. The jail authorities had allowed Faiz Abdul Khader, prime accused in a gold smuggling case to meet P Mohanan, 14th accused in the murder case and CPI(M)’s Kozhikode district secretariat member, and others inside the prison.
After that, the jail authorities had allowed Mohanan to spend a long time with his wife KK lathika, a Marxist MlA, at a restaurant in Kozhikode when he was taken there for medical examination some weeks ago. In both these incidents, the Government’s action was limited to the suspension of some low-level jail employees.
After the matter appeared in the media on Monday, senior prisons officials held inspections at the district jail but they could not find any mobile phones or other gadgets. Officials said that they would continue the investigations with the help of the Kerala Police’s Cyber Cell.
Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan came under heavy attack from within the Congress and the ruling UDF it was leading for the matter. Government Chief Whip PC George said Thiruvanchoor’s continuance as Home Minister was a shame while Congress leader K Muraleedharan said his hopes on a just conclusion to the murder case had now been shattered.
Congress MP K Sudhakaran issued a warning to Thiruvanchoor saying “there is a limit to patience” while the Kannur district Congress committee wanted Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to take over the Home and Prisons portfolio. Thiruvanchoor said he would visit the Kozhikode prison on Tuesday.