Communist Party of India (Marxist) district secretary P. Jayarajan and party MLA T.V. Rajesh have been charged with criminal conspiracy in the case of murder of Abdul Shukkoor of Ariyil, near Taliparamba, probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CBI filed an additional chargesheet in the case at the Principal Sessions Court at Thalassery on January 25, replacing an earlier charge under the IPC 118 (concealing design to commit offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life) with 120-B (criminal conspiracy to commit an offence such as murder that is punishable with death) read with Section 302 (murder). A CBI officer said the case had been posted for February 14.
In 2012
Shukkoor, 21, an activist of the Muslim Students Federation, the students’ wing of the Indian Union Muslim League, was hacked to death on February 20, 2012, at Keezhara here.
As many as 33 CPI(M) workers, including Mr. Jayarajan and Mr. Rajesh, have been arraigned as accused in the case. Shukkoor had been murdered in retaliation for the attack on Mr. Jayarajan and Mr. Rajesh earlier in the day allegedly by IUML workers. Both Mr. Jayarajan and Mr. Rajesh were arrested on August 1, 2012 and Mr. Jayarajan had been in custody for 28 days.
The case was earlier probed by a special team of the State police that had charged them under Section 118. The original chargesheet said the plot to murder the youth was hatched in a hospital at Taliparamba where the two leaders had been admitted.
Mother’s plea
The High Court had directed the CBI to take over the case following a writ petition filed by P.C. Athikka, the victim’s mother.
The writ was filed after the CBI refused to take over the probe despite the then UDF government recommending it.
