K.K. Rema, widow of the slain Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T.P. Chandrasekharan, will go on a fast unto death in front of the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram from February 3 to press for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the killing of her husband.
She told the media of her decision after a meeting of the RMP State secretariat here on Thursday.
The decision comes in the wake of the Special Additional Sessions Court (Marad cases) on Wednesday acquitting some of the CPI(M) leaders involved in the conspiracy to hack to death Chandrasekharan at Onchiyam on May 4, 2012. The trial court exonerated P. Mohanan (14th accused), district secretariat member of the CPI(M); K.K. Krishnan (10th accused), member of the Onchiyam area committee; Jyothi Babu (12th accused), member of the Kunnothuparamba local committee; M.K. Raveendran aka Padayamkandi Raveendran (30th accused), member of the local committee; C. Babu (42nd accused), office secretary of the Koothuparamba area committee; and K. Dhananjayan (70th accused), secretary of the Koothuparamba area committee.
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The meeting also decided that RMP activists would stage a relay hunger strike along with Ms. Rema. The demand for a CBI probe was to bring out the involvement of senior CPI(M) leaders in the case, she said.
Workers from different districts would reach the State capital to take part in the protest. It was true that the police had brought the killer gang and a few conspirators to book. However, they had failed to probe the wider conspiracy angle, the RMP said.
The demand for a CBI probe was for investigating the involvement of others, N. Venu, RMP State secretary, said. He said two area committees of the CPI(M) in two districts were involved in the killing of Chandrasekharan.
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The organisational set up of the CPI(M) was that a higher committee would have coordinated both these area committees. Investigators were under duress after the arrest of Mohanan. He was not even interrogated, Mr. Venu said.
He said his party respected the verdict of the trial court. An appeal would be filed against the acquittal of some of the accused. The prosecution did its part well. But it was doubtful whether the trial court properly comprehended the arguments of the prosecution.
There was a previous history of the Kerala High Court reversing an order of the same trial court acquitting 25 persons in the Marad massacre case, he added.