THALASSERY : The CBI team probing the Kathiroor Manoj murder case arrested three CPM activists on Thursday.
Riju, Biju, alias Bijesh, and Sinil are the arrested. It was the first arrest after the CBI took over the case a couple of weeks ago.
“Three of them, part of a four-member team from Maloor, were present at the scene of crime and they had carried weapons.
Two others who were also present at the scene had hurled bombs, but they are yet to be identified,” CBI Superintendent of Police Jose Mohan said.
The arrested will be produced before the CBI Court, Ernakulam, on Friday. One of the arrested, Sinil, is reportedly a branch secretary of the CPM at Tholambra near Maloor. The CBI team from Thiruvananthapuram, led by DySP Hari Om Prakash, is probing the case.
The CBI had registered an FIR in the case in the last week of October. It was on Tuesday, that the District Sessions Court here allowed a CBI plea seeking shifting of the case to the CBI Court, Ernakulam.
The Crime Branch team, which probed the case earlier, had arrested seven CPM activists, including Vikraman, the key suspect in the case, C Prakasan, managing director of Patyam Social Service Society, K T Prabhakaran of Maloor, a former CPM branch secretary, Sujith, Nambidi Jithin, a videographer by profession, Andan Vinu and Siraj.
The Crime Branch team had also prepared a report on 19 accused in the case.