CPI(M)’s nonagenarian central committee member VS Achuthanandan, also Opposition leader of the Kerala Assembly, upset his party on Sunday by refusing to oppose the Congress-led Government’s recommendation for a CBI probe into the brutal murder of RSS leader Manoj (42) of Elanthottathil at Kathiroor in Kannur on September 1, allegedly by a Marxist killer gang.
“What is so special about itIJ What else can the Government doIJ” Achuthanandan asked in Kochi when newsmen sought his comment on the recommendation for CBI probe. His refusal to oppose a CBI probe has come when his party holds that the recommendation shows the Congress-led Government’s submissiveness to the BJP-led Central Government.
This is not the first time Achuthanandan has embarrassed his party over the question of CBI probe into an incident of murder committed allegedly by CPI(M) men. He had upset the party earlier by supporting a call for CBI probe into the murder of rebel Marxist leader TP Chandrasekharan of Onchiyam, Kozhikode on May 4, 2012.
CPI(M) leaders in the State sought to downplay Achuthanandan’s comment over the CBI probe into the Manoj murder saying that he had not supported the recommendation. “The media want to interpret his comment the way they want. let them do it. I think that VS was speaking of the inability of the Government to withstand BJP pressure,” said a Marxist leader from Kannur.
Meanwhile, confusion is said to have gripped the special investigation team of the Kerala Police’s Crime Branch looking into the Manoj murder as to whether it should intensify its efforts to arrest the remaining accused in the case. First accused Venattintavide Vikraman had surrendered before a court on Thursday and the SIT is presently interrogating him.
The SIT itself wants to continue its probe vigorously and to nab all the accused at the earliest so that allegations of “secret understanding” between the police and the Congress-led Government and the CPI(M) could be avoided. Sources in the police said that the probe team has identified all the accused and it has intensified the search for them.
However, one section in the Home Department feels that the SIT need not make any extra effort to find the accused as a recommendation has already been formally made by the Government for a CBI probe. This section is of the opinion that arrest of all accused and other progresses in the police probe may prompt the CBI to refuse to take over the investigation.
Manoj (42), Kannur district Sharirik Shikshan Pramukh of the RSS, was hacked to death by a Marxist killer gang at Kathiroor near Thalassery in Kannur on September 1. Manoj’s friend Pramod (50) had suffered serious injuries in the attack. The killers had attacked them after creating a terror scene by hurling country bombs at the vehicle in which they were travelling.
Eight CPI(M) workers were named as accused in the FIR of the local police. However, the police now think that there could have been 11 members in the Marxist gang which had attacked Manoj. According to Vikraman, there were only seven members in the gang and he has given the details of all of them to the SIT.