: Minister for Home Ramesh Chennithala has welcomed the decision of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to investigate the murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) functionary E. Manoj in Kannur on September 1.
The Home Minister was responding to a reported remark by Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan accusing him of inclining towards the RSS. Mr. Vijayan had alleged that State government’s decision to endorse the plan for a CBI probe in the Manoj murder case was to mollify the Sangh Parivar State leadership and to appease the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at the Centre.
Mr. Chennithala said he could not comprehend why the CPI(M) was scared of a CBI probe in the murder case, if the party did not have any role in it. Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has welcomed a just probe in the murder case and the party State secretary too should have welcomed a CBI probe, Mr. Chennithala said. The Home Minister said the State government was in favour of a Central agency investigating the case as it reportedly had certain international links.
Charge under UAPAA Correspondent adds from Kattapana:
Mr. Chennithala said it was CPI(M) leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Home Minister in the LDF government, who had first used the UAPA (Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 2004) in the arm-chopping case and it was a law prevailing in the country.
Mr. Chennithala was speaking at a Congress district convention in Thodupuzha on Sunday.