The legal and political impact of the government’s move for a new first information report (FIR) to probe the larger conspiracy behind the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T.P. Chandrasekharan will be keenly discussed in the coming days.
The government’s plan to have a new FIR registered on the basis of a written complaint by K.K. Rema, wife of Chandrasekharan, is being initiated as a first step towards an eventual probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the conspiracy angle of the murder.
According to reliable sources, the government and the top police hierarchy in the State have approved the legal opinion given to the government endorsing the proposal to register a new FIR at the Vadakara or Chombal police station on the basis of the disclosures made by Ms. Rema in her complaint/petition to the government seeking a CBI probe into the conspiracy behind the murder.
The FIR is planned as a precursor to the handing over of the investigation to the CBI.
While the legal implications of the plan will be weighed by all sides who have a stake in the outcome of the probe, the political impact of ordering a CBI inquiry will be keenly watched at a time when the general elections are round the corner. According to legal and political circles close to the decision-making government functionaries, this cannot be otherwise, especially when the investigation is extended to probe the alleged role of some senior leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Government stance Whether or not the new FIR will be filed before Ms. Rema begins her indefinite fast still remains unclear. But the government is mulling the idea of ordering the CBI probe after Ms. Rema goes on an indefinite fast.
VS factor The thinking is that the government should not avert a possibility of Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan, who has already endorsed her demand for a CBI probe, visiting Ms. Rema and reiterating the demand for CBI investigation. The government’s decision to hand over the conspiracy probe to the CBI would then carry added weight, the sources said. The sources also said the legal opinion given by Director General of Prosecutions T. Asaf Ali has been accepted by Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala for the reason that it seeks to register a new FIR and not a further investigation of the main crime.Ms. Rema’s written complaint will be the basis for the new FIR as she refers to specific incidents to unravel her allegation of conspiracy in the murder. The sources said that her complaint points to three prominent CPI(M) leaders, specifically mentioning three separate incidents to show their alleged culpability and/or complicity in the criminal conspiracy behind the murder.
Rema’s complaint The three incidents mentioned in Ms. Rema’s complaint include a speech by CPI(M) Onchiyam area committee member K.K. Krishnan at a public meeting at Kunnummakkara that Chandrashekharan’s head and brain would be found “strewn like a coconut flower on the road;” the use of a Mahindra Bolero sports utility vehicle, owned by the CPI(M) district committee and used by the party district committee secretary K.K. Pavithran, for facilitating the post-murder escape of CPI(M) Panur area committee member P.K. Kunhanandan, sentenced to life-imprisonment in the case; and finally CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan’s description of Chandrasekharan as a “kulam kuthi.”
