Murder that put CPI(M) on the defensive

T.P.Chandrasekharan's murder led to the party facing accusations that it got the dissident leader eliminated with the help of hired killers

The killing of Chandrasekharan, who broke away from the CPI(M) to form the new party, had a seismic effect on the social and political circles in the State.

The murder put the CPI(M) on the defensive as the party faced accusations that it got the dissident leader eliminated with the help of hired killers.

The belief that a section of the local CPI(M) leadership masterminded the murder strengthened as the special police team began arresting some party leaders from Kozhikode and Kannur districts.

Then came the surrender of P.K. Kunhanandan, member of the Panur area committee of the CPI(M), and the arrest of P. Mohanan, member of the Kozhikode district secretariat of the party. A hartal was observed in the district in protest against the arrest.

The police team made a breakthrough when it nabbed T.K. Rajeesh from Sateli-Bhedshi, 400 km from Mumbai, in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra.

Success of probe team

The arrest of Kodi Suni and his accomplices from their hideout near Iritty in Kannur, in an operation code-named ‘Silent Night,’ was a feather in the cap of the investigation team.

It was during the course of the investigation that the special team came out with its version that CPI(M) leaders in Kozhikode and Kannur districts plotted to kill Chandrasekharan in August 2009 and engaged a killer-gang between September and November that year. The gang had failed to execute the plan in the absence of a favourable situation.

Afterwards, the mission was entrusted to Kunhanandan, the police team said.

On August 13, the police submitted its charge sheet at the Vadakara court naming seven CPI(M) leaders for hatching the conspiracy, along with the hired killers.

A separate charge sheet was filed on September 9 in a case of conspiracy hatched by a section of CPI(M) leaders to kill Chandrasekharan in 2009.

Both the charge sheets mentioned that a chain of setbacks to the CPI(M) — the defeat of its nominee, P. Sathidevi, in the election from the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency, an offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder made out against P. Mohanan, and the RMP making inroads into Eramala, Azhiyur, Chorode and Onchiyam — intensified the hostility between the two parties.

Series of clashes

A series of clashes occurred between their activists in these grama panchayat areas and the CPI(M) local leaders believed that the only way out was to kill Chandrasekharan, the charge sheets said.