PALAKKAD: The police on Tuesday took into custody all eight persons accused in the case of CPM Marutharode local committee member Shajahan’s murder on August 14. Their arrests will be recorded on Wednesday.
Two persons, Naveen and Sidharth, were nabbed in the morning while six — first accused Sabarish, second accused Aneesh, besides Sivarajan, Sajeesh, Sujeesh and Vishnu — were taken into custody later. Naveen was picked up by the police from Pattambi in Palakkad, while Sidharth and two others were nabbed from Pollachi in Tamil Nadu. The remaining four were taken into custody from Kava near Malampuzha.
Meanwhile, the deposition by a witness has caused confusion over the political affiliation of the goons who attacked Shajahan.The FIR registered on the basis of the statement of Sukumaran, a CPM member and friend of Shajahan, said eight BJP workers were involved in the murder. Ummer, Shajahan’s brother-in-law, too alleged that the crime could not have been carried out without BJP’s support.
However, one of the witnesses Suresh claimed that Aneesh and Sabarish were CPM workers. The FIR stated political animosity as the motive. It said the relation between Naveen and Shajahan had been strained for some time. Ummer said Shajahan had been receiving death threats.“Sabarish, Aneesh and Naveen had threatened to attack Shajahan. It was a pre-planned murder that could not have happened without BJP’s support,” he said.
As per the FIR, Sabarish first attacked Shajahan with a machete, targeting his legs to prevent him from running away. Sabarish and Aneesh then repeatedly attacked Shajahan, while the other accused carrying lethal weapons surrounded them to prevent him from escaping. A 19-member team led by a DySP is investigating the murder.