As the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Sangh Parivar battle over the ‘confession’ of an RSS worker in police custody to the ‘involvement’ of RSS workers in the 2006 murder of Muhammad Fazal at Thalassery, legal circles note that the CPI(M)’s demand for a fresh probe in the case raises legal issues.
The ‘confession’ of Subeesh while he was in police custody in another murder case has been under the spotlight here for some time.
Subeesh said at a press conference here recently that the confession was extracted under duress. The Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that the ‘confession’ was the CPI(M)’s bid to scuttle the ongoing investigation by the CBI that has arraigned eight CPI(M) men, including two of its local leaders, as accused.
According to legal circles, further investigation under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) Section 173 can be conducted in a case if the investigating officer, in this case the CBI, obtains further evidence, either oral or documentary.
The confession of a person in police custody is not a legally acceptable evidence, they say adding that in the present case, the confession was made before police officers who were not involved in the Fazal murder probe.
As the Fazal case is still to reach the trial stage, the accused, including CPI(M) local leaders Karayi Rajan and Karayi Chandrashekharan who, according to the CBI, have masterminded the murder of Fazal, could approach the court seeking their discharge from the case under Criminal Procedure Code Section 227 and the defence could use the ‘confession’ to support their side.
Under the section, if the court considers that there is no sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused it can discharge the accused.
