IDUKKI: Two days after a CPI-M leader in Kerala claimed his party had killed its foes, police Monday slapped three murder and conspiracy cases against him.
The cases were registered at Thodupuzha, 220 km from the state capital Thiruvananthapuram, against M.M. Mani, the Idukki district secretary of the Communist Part of India-Marxist.
Moni sent shock waves Friday night when he told a public rally that the CPI-M had resorted to killing political foes and listed four such murders.
These murders reportedly took place in Idukki in the 1980s.
Police said three of the four murders were dismissed for want of evidence and those arrested were let off.
"Since the cases have been registered under non-bailable sections, Mani could be arrested anytime," a legal expert told IANS.
Director General of Police T. Asif Ali had said the cases could be reopened in view of what Moni said.
The Oommen Chandy government said Mani's revelation was "a very serious issue".
Mani had Friday that his party activists had shot dead one a political adversary, stabbed another death and beaten to death a third, after which others fled the area.
He said the CPI-M always owned up the crimes it commits.
Several CPI-M cadres have been arrested for the May 4 murder of T.P. Chandrasekharan, a former CPI-M stalwart who quit to form his own party.