As the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has now started the probe into the murder of Abdul Hakeem at Payyannur two years ago, the local action committee that spearheaded an agitation demanding an investigation by the Central agency hopes that the probe will proceed in the right direction.
The agitation launched by the action committee rallied people from different sections and activists to voice its concern that the Crime Branch probe into the murder that could not arrest a single culprit was not above board. It was on this day two years ago that the charred body of Hakeem was found near a madrasa building at Kotti, near Payyannur. An employee of Kotti Juma Masjid, Hakeem had been converted to Islam from Hindu religion 13 years before.
“The probe started by the CBI has raised the hope that culprits behind the murder can be brought to justice,” said Payyannur MLA C. Krishnan, who is also chairman of the action committee.
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When contacted, he told The Hindu that the agitation was started when the Crime Branch probe raised doubts in its early stage itself. The stir included relay fasting for 100 days that culminated in the CBI probe, he noted.
As Hakeem had been involved in the chit-business run by the madrasa, it was rumoured in the aftermath of the murder that money dealings were behind the murder. It was also alleged that he had left the house on February 9 to attend a general body meeting of the mosque committee. There was also allegation that the murder had been executed in a planned manner and that the culprits had destroyed evidence.
Though the State government had issued a notification for the CBI probe, the agency refused to take over the investigation saying that there was nothing in the murder that merited the probe by it. In September last, the High Court had directed the agency to probe the murder on a writ petition filed by C.K. Zeenath, the wife of the deceased.