CPI(M) leader Sakkeer Hussain and three others accused in the sensational Kalamassery abduction case were acquitted as all the witnesses including the de facto complainant in the case turned hostile.
Acquitting all the accused, Jomy Anu Issac, the Judicial First Class Magistrate 6, Ernakulam, concluded that the prosecution failed to prove the case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
All the witnesses to the occurrence of the offences alleged against the accused including the complainant Juby Poulose, a businessman, turned hostile to the prosecution. There is absolutely no evidence to prove the prosecution case, the court concluded.
The criminal case booked against Mr. Hussain was the first one registered by the anti-goonda squad formed by the previous LDF government.
The arrest of Mr. Hussain, a former Kalamassery area secretary and the Ernakulam district committee member of the CPI (M), had forced the party on the back foot in the district. Mr. Hussain, who was suspended from the organisation after an inner-party inquiry, which concluded that he had amassed wealth and was involved in other financial irregularities, was reinstated in January this year.
The prosecution case was that Mr. Hussain and the second accused Karukapilly Siddique wrongfully restrained and threatened Saju John, the staff of Mr. Poulose on June 10, 2015.
Next day, Siddique and the third accused K. K. Faisal forcefully took Mr. Poulose to the Kalamassery Area Committee office of the CPI (M) and threatened to finish him and his family off if he didn’t settle the dispute with Sheela Thomas, the fourth accused in the case. Again on June 12, Mr. Poulose was called to the CPI (M) office and criminally intimidated to settle the dispute between him and Ms. Thomas.
During the examination, Mr. Poulose categorically stated that he had a dispute with Ms. Thomas regarding the conduct of a factory at Karunagapally a civil case was instituted by him. A complaint to recover money was filed as the mediation talks to settle the case failed, the court noted.
During the trial, the prosecution declared Mr. Poulose as hostile as he submitted that he didn’t lodge a complaint against Mr. Thomas. He also denied all his averments and allegations made by him in the First Information Statement. He also deposed that the case between him and Ms. Thomas was settled and he had no further complaints against her, the court noted.
Mr. John also deposed that no one wrongly restrained him. The six persons who were listed as the occurrence witnesses too turned hostile by stating that no such incidents as alleged by the prosecution took place.
