Kerala CPM leader held in Shukoor murder case

Thiruvananthapuram: Senior Communist Party of India Marxist leader and the party’s district secretary in Kannur, Kerala P. Jayarajan was taken into custody on Wednesday in connection with the Abdul Shukoor murder case.

Jayarajan was later remanded in custody for 14 days by the Kannur judicial first class magistrate court, and taken to the Kannur central jail.

The development is a major setback for the CPM in Kerala, which has several of its leaders under investigation for the murder of rebel Communist leader T.P. Chandrasekharan in May.

P. Jayarajan’s arrest and remand followed questioning of the leader at the Kannur town circle inspector’s office. The arrest sparked instant protests by CPM activists, who held marches to circle inspectors’ offices and resorted to stone throwing. There has also been a shutdown call for Thursday.

This was the third time that Jayarajan was called for questioning in the Shukoor murder case, and there had been strong hints that he would be arrested soon. Apparently because of that, he was accompanied by some party leaders and MLAs and his lawyer when he turned up for questioning on Wednesday. Leaders who accompanied Jayarajan included P.K. Sreemathy, M.V. Jayarajan, James Mathew, K.K. Narayanan and C. Krishnan.

Ahead of being questioned, Jayarajan spoke who turned up in support of briefly to media persons, and alleged that chief minister Oommen Chandy and his home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan were conniving to send him to jail for opposing extremist tendencies, and that the chief minister was dancing to the tune of the Indian Union Muslim League. He said important incidents had happened in his life in August, and that he was attacked by Hindu extremist elements 13 years ago in August.

Jayarajan has reportedly been slapped with the charge that he failed to stop the murder of Shukoor despite having knowledge of the conspiracy. He has been charged under Section 118 of the Indian Penal Code (for concealing design to commit offence punishable with death or life imprisonment). Police struggled to restrain the crowds when Jayarajan was taken to court, and had to resort to using tear gas shells.

Jayarajan’s questioning, arrest and remand followed questioning of Democratic Youth Federation of India state secretary T.V. Rajesh in the same case on July 30. The murdered Abdul Shukoor of Ariyil, Thaliparamba was an activist of the youth wing of the Muslim League. He was murdered in February this year at Kannavam near Kannur.