KANNUR: The memorial column of CPM local leader PK Kunjananthan, who died last year while undergoing life imprisonment after being convicted in the TP Chandrasekharan murder case, was inaugurated by party central committee member and former minister EP Jayarajan in the presence of senior leaders at Paradu near Panoor here on Friday.
The cynosure of all eyes at the function, however, was KK Mohammed Shafi, Kunjananthan’s co-accused who was sentenced to life imprisonment in the case. Shafi is out of prison on parole as part of the decongestion drive in central prisons owing to the Covid-19 situation.
Mohammed Shafi, who is the fifth accused in the case, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and criminal conspiracy by the trial court in 2014. The CPM has always maintained that Kunjananthan was implicated in the case and leaders had repeatedly said that the party didn’t have any connection with the seven-member killing squad that included Shafi.
Bu Shafi’s presence in the memorial event organised by the CPM once again attests to his close ties with the party. In 2017, Thalassery MLA A N Shamseer had visited Shafi at his house in Chokli on the eve of his marriage during another stint on parole.
On the first death anniversary day of Kunjananthan, the Panoor area committee organised a slew of programmes including opening a memorial hall at Paradu local committee office and unveiling of a portrait of Kunjananthan at Panoor area committee office. The hall was inaugurated by CPM Kannur district secretary M V Jayarajan while state secretariat member P Jayarajan unveiled the portrait of Kunjananthan at the area committee office.
While inaugurating the memorial structure, E P Jayarajan said Kunjananthan was the leading light for the youth in the party as he had led the party through many difficult situations with unbreakable Communist beliefs.
“By rolling out the red carpet for a murderer and by idolising another murderer, what is the message the CPM is conveying to the society?” asked Congress leader P C Vishnunadh, MLA, who shared the picture of Mohammed Shafi at Kunjananthan’s memorial in his Facebook page. “By portraying a murder case convict as a revolutionary, the state leadership of his party is competing with BJP to draw inspiration from murderers,” Left thinker and political observer Dr Azad told TNIE.