We killed rival party men: CPM

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The irrepressible district secretary of the CPI(M) in Idukki, Mr M.M. Mony, has landed the party and himself in trouble, disclosing that the party “did kill” four rival party men, in direct retaliatory action.

Rattled by the damning disclosures, the CPM state leadership has sought an urgent clarification from Mr Mony, according to sources.

At a public function near Thodupuzha in Idukki on Friday, Mr Mony disclosed: “We came out with a list of 13 men.

One, two, three, four… The first three were the first to be killed. One was shot dead, another was beaten to death, yet another stabbed to death.”

His staccato narrative of the murders has since become the most telling riposte, as it were, to the CPI (M) general secretary, Mr Prakash Karat’s official stance and the first assertion that the party carried out revenge killings.

Mr Mony, in a full-throttle boast, said no one who had hurt the party had been let off. “In Kerala, we have retaliated whenever we were hit,” he said.

“Ayyappa Das of Peerumedu was killed. A young chap, our area committee member, just 32 years old and had not even married. He was repeatedly hacked to death by Oommen Chandy’s people. We retaliated.”

Mony nails Karat

Political circles in state were baffled by the outrageous statement of CPI(M) district secretary M.M. Mony on Saturday.

The statement came as a shocker as the CPI(M), ever since the murder of RMP leader T.P.
Chandrashekharan, had vociferously denied its involvement in the heinous crime.

The central and state leaders have maintained that the well-stated policy of the party was to fight the political rivals ideologically rather than take them on physically.

The CPI(M) general secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, while addressing party workers on the occasion of the E K Nayanar Day at Kalliasserri in Kannur on May 19 reiterated that the party was against politics of killing.

Mr Karat said: “Our party believes in fighting politically and ideologically the parties of the ruling classes.

That is what AKG, EMS, Nayanar and other leaders stood for. We do not believe in using weapons to kill political opponents and those who disagree with us.”

“Our greatest weapon is the Marxist ideology and the politics of working class. It is necessary to reiterate once again that the CPI (M) will firmly defend the interests of the working people and our movement.

But we do not subscribe to individual killings of political opponents or those who opposed our party and its politics,” Mr Karat said.

P.T. Thomas demands action

P.T. Thomas, MP, has asked the police to reopen all the cases of political murders that took place in Idukki district on the basis of the recent statement made by CPM district secretary M.M. Mony.

He told reporters in Iddukki that the Naxalite Varghese murder case was reopened on the basis of the revelation of constable Ramachandran Nair after many years.

This could be made applicable to the political murder that took place in Idukki too, he said.

Thomas said Mony should be questioned and a case registered on the basis of his statement.
Mony should also be made an accused in the cases, he added.

Victims’ kin shocked over claim

The claim made by CPM district secretary M.M. Mony regarding the political killings in Idukki came as a shock to the victims’ family members including that of Anchery Baby.

“Now I know who the real culprits behind my Uncle’s death were. Mani and his men shot my uncle Anchery Baby on Nov. 13, 1982.

At that time we kept our silence but if you continue to provoke us with these kind of remarks we will retaliate,” posted Gigo George on his Facebook wall immediately after Mony’s remarks on the political killings in the district were aired.

Meanwhile, a country bomb went off before the Senapathy CPM office in Idukki on Saturday. No one was injured, as per reports.

Brother of Baby, Benny Alenchery, who is also the Mandalam president of the Congress, said they will move court seeking a directive to reopen his brother’s murder case. We will fight till the Apex court to bring the truth out in the case” he said.

Gracy George, younger sister of Anchery Baby, said they already knew the CPM was behind the cold-blooded murder.

“For close to one week, the CPM activists hid on the tree top waiting for a chance to kill my brother. We also remember how the CPM activists used to terrorise the witnesses in the case.

We also heard that the CPM activists tried to blackmail the then magistrate to let the accused walk free.” All the 7 accused in the Baby murder case had been let off for want of evidence.

‘Reopen like Varghese case’

Police can now reopen the cases related to the political murders in Idukki in the wake of the revelation of CPM district secretary M.M. Mony, a criminal lawyer in Kochi has said.

According to S. Rajeev at the Kerala high court, the police can register a murder case under section 302 of IPC making Mony as first informant.

“Mony has revealed information about several cognizable offences. As per the CRPC, a cognizable offence is a criminal offence in which the police is empowered to register an FIR, investigate, and arrest an accused without a court issuina a warrant” Rajeev said.

Interestingly, several as-yet-unsolved murders happened in the 1970s or 1980s, and the cases were tried and accused went scot-free for want of evidence.

Old cases can be reopened like the controversial Naxal Varghese case and the culprits can be brought to book, legal circles said.