The police on Monday slapped murder charges on CPI(M) Idukki district secretary M.M. Mony for his claim last Friday the party had killed three from a list of 13 political rivals in the district. The police will also form a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case.
Following this, the CPI(M) central leadership hinted of action against Mr Mony, a close lieutenant of party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan.
The non-bailable charges against Mr Mony were registered by the Thodupuzha police under Sections 302 (murder), 109 (abetment of crime) and 118 (concealing design to commit an offence) of the IPC. The police also took into its custody the cassette of Mr Mony’s speech at Manakkad containing the claim he made at a public meeting. The police said that the three murders were those of Anchery Baby in 1982, and Mullanthara Mathai and Muttakkad Nanappan in 1983. While Anchery Baby was shot dead, Mathai was beaten to death and Nanappan hacked.
All these cases had been tried and the accused found “not guilty”.
The only political murder in the district in which the accused were convicted was that of Intuc leader Balasubramanyam in 2004.
The decision to register the case against Mr Mony was taken after discussions held by home minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan with DGP Jacob Punnoose and ADGP (Intelligence) T.P. Senkumar. The police has already started examining the case diaries of the three murders. The minister later said law would take its course.
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Will cooperate with cops: party
Age Correspondent
New Delhi, May 28
The CPI(M) central leadership Monday said that the party would cooperate with the Kerala police’s investigation into the controversial remarks made by CPI(M) Idukki district secretary M.M. Mony. Senior CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury said that the central leadership would discuss the issue with the Kerala unit and take appropriate action.
Senior CPI leader A.B. Bardhan termed Mr Mony’s remarks “shocking” and asked the CPI(M) leadership to “clarify” the matter.