Workers of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) staged satyagrahas in Thalassery on Wednesday to highlight their separate demands related to the ongoing investigation into the murder of RSS functionary E. Manoj.
The CPI(M) staged the protest in front of the office of the Crime Branch special investigation team against the alleged police brutality against party workers in custody and the invocation of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) against CPI(M) workers accused in the case.
The BJP-RSS workers staged the satyagraha along with the members of the bereaved family to protest against what it terms as the CPI(M)’s efforts to torpedo the investigation.
Inaugurating the CPI(M) protest, party State secretariat member M.V. Govindan said that it would be futile to entertain an illusion that the party could be destroyed by dragging party workers in fabricated cases and torturing them in custody.
Mr. Govindan said that the police were harassing party workers in the name of the investigation into the Manoj murder. CPI(M) leaders M.V. Jayarajan, K.K. Narayanan, MLA, K.K. Ragesh, and M.N. Shamseer were among those present.
BJP leader P.S. Sreedharan Pillai inaugurated the satyagraha by the Sangh Parivar outfits at the new bus stand area. BJP leaders alleged that the CPI(M) was trying to derail the investigation by threatening the investigating officers.
District BJP president K. Ranjith and party leader T.C. Chandrashekharan were among those present at the protest.
Police personnel were deployed in large numbers in the town in view of the protests by the rival parties. The protests passed off peacefully.
