KOCHI: Expressing concern over the rising number of political murders in the state, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday orally asked: “Why are most of the political killings happening only in Kannur district?” In his reply, the Advocate General (AG) said compared to other districts, political murders were less in Kannur. Even murders over family disputes are counted as political killings. The government has taken all effective measures, including holding peace talks, to end political murders, he said.
The AG submitted it was not necessary to hand over the probe to any other agency as the local police were investigating the case effectively. Of the seven cases cited in the petition, chargesheet was filed in four cases. There has been no allegation regarding the probe till date, he said. The Centre and the CBI have not taken any specific stand and left it to the court to pass an order, said the court order.
The plea stated of the seven cases, four were registered in Kannur and one case each in Palakkad, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram. It alleged the state police are not taking effective steps for conducting an impartial probe in these cases. The plea said CPM workers have been arraigned as accused in these cases. In some cases, the accused are party activists from the constituency of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who holds the Home portfolio.
The petitioner said facts and circumstances of the seven cases reveal high-level political conspiracy was hatched to execute the murders and there were efforts to save the real culprits. However, the state police have not properly probed the conspiracy angle in any of the cases. There were deliberate attempts to derail the investigation at the instance of the ruling party with the intention to save the culprits. The chain of political murders is adversely affecting peace and prosperity of the state and the murders continue unabated mainly for the reason in most of the cases, activists of the ruling party are involved, the plea stated.Hence, the petitioner sought CBI probe into the cases for impartial and effective investigation.