Police revealed identity: T. P. Chandrasekharan murder accused

Manoj Kumar aka Kirmani Manoj, second accused in the T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case, told the trial court here on Wednesday that the police had not covered his face when he was produced before the inquiry court (Vadakara Judicial First Class Magistrate Court).

This had enabled the witnesses to identify him during an identification parade, he told R. Narayana Pisharadi, judge, Special Additional Sessions Court (Marad Cases) at Eranhipalam.

The questioning of the accused is being done under Section 313 (power to examine the accused) under Code of Criminal Procedure. Manoj was one of the seven persons who had allegedly hacked to death Revolutionary Marxist Party leader Chandrasekharan at Vallikkad on May 4, 2012.

The accused told the court that the police had purposefully revealed his identity to the witnesses at the camp office of the special investigation team that functioned at Vadakara.

Further, his photos had appeared in the media. Hence the witnesses had easily recognised him during the identification parade conducted at the Kozhikode district jail, he said.

Manoj also countered the statements made by T.P. Rameshan, an eyewitness who had identified the swords used to hack Chandrasekharan.

The statement made by Rameshan that a dark person (Manoj) had arrived in a Toyota Innova Multi Utility Vehicle was utterly false.

Previously Rameshan had testified that the assailants hacked Chandrasekharan with long swords and hurled bombs at the rescuers soon after the attack. He had also identified the accused, the weapons and the vehicle used by the assailants.

Manoj also tried to prove false the statement made by V. Vijeesh, a prosecution witness, that he had taken an Idea mobile phone connection in his mother’s name. The questioning will resume on Thursday.

Meanwhile the Vadakara police have registered a case in connection with a complaint that key witnesses had been threatened over phone. The case was registered on the basis on a complaint made by K.K. Praseeth, T.P Maneesh and Rameshan, all eyewitnesses in the murder case.

The complainants had alleged that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) had been behind the threatening calls. The calls had been made via satellite phone possibly from the Gulf.