Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] district secretary P. Jayarajan and party MLA T.V. Rajesh, who were arraigned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as accused on the charge of criminal conspiracy in the Abdul Shukkoor murder case, moved a discharge petition in the Additional District and Sessions Court at Thalassery on Thursday.
The court posted the case for February 19 for the CBI to submit counter argument on the discharge petitions moved by the two leaders and four other CPI(M) workers who are accused in the case.
The chargesheet filed by the CBI investigating officer states that the accused, P.P. Sureshan, U.V. Venu and A.V. Babu, local leaders of the CPI(M), had been in the hospital in room No. 315 with Mr. Jayarajan and Mr. Rajesh and that Venu had instructed the other two party workers to ‘properly deal’ with the IUML workers detained in the house at Valluvankadavu.
The defendant’s advocate opposed the CBI’s plea that the case should be shifted to the CBI special court in Kochi. He said it was the CBI that had demanded that the trial of the case be held in the court at Thalassery. He said the court at Thalassery had earlier rejected the CBI’s demand for shifting the case to the CBI special court and that the matter was still pending with the Supreme Court. The CBI counsel said that now that the chargesheet had been filed, the trial could be shifted to the CBI special court.
