KOCHI: State Congress president K Sudhakaran was involved in a conspiracy to endanger the lives of CPM leaders Pinarayi Vijayan, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and E P Jayarajan in 1995, a police report submitted to the Kerala High Court has claimed.
The report, emerging on the heels of Sudhakaran being implicated in a cheating case involving Monson Mavunkal, has put the state Congress chief in a tight spot.
The report surfaced on Monday, when the High Court took up a petition filed by Sudhakaran, the first accused, seeking to quash the conspiracy case in connection with firing gunshots at Jayarajan inside a moving train in Andhra Pradesh in 1995. The petition had been pending in the HC since 2016.
Justice Ziyad Rehman adjourned the case to June 27 for final hearing, and extended the interim order staying all further proceedings against Sudhakaran The accused harboured political enmity towards the three CPM leaders. In 1995, the accused criminally conspired to commit the crime with the help of others, stated the report filed by the investigating agency on August 10, 2016.
Thampanoor police had registered the case based on the complaint filed by Jayarajan. Pinarayi and Kodiyeri were listed as witnesses.
When the case came up for hearing on Monday, advocate S U Nazar, the special government pleader, detailed the events. He said the chargesheet alleged that Sudhakaran, the then Kannur DCC president and Kannur MLA, and Rajeevan of Thalassery, the third accused, had previous political enmity towards the three CPM leaders.
After extensive plotting at Thycaud guest house, some lodges at Thampanoor and the Kerala House in Delhi, they decided to commit the crime at some place outside Kerala while Jayarajan was to return from New Delhi after attending the CPM party congress in Punjab.
Case filed maliciously at instance of Jayarajan: Sudhakaran to HC
As planned, the fourth accused, Sasi of Thalassery -- who died after the chargesheet was filed -- and P K Dineshan of Kannur, the fifth accused, boarded the Rajadhani Express from New Delhi on April 11, 1995, in which Jayarajan was also travelling. As the train was nearing the Chirala railway station in Andhra Pradesh, the fifth accused with the intention to murder Jayarajan fired two rounds from a revolver. The bullets hit Jayarajan’s neck, causing serious injuries.
The trial against Sudhakaran and the third accused Rajeevan is pending before the Additional Sessions Court, Thiruvananthapuram. The second accused, CMP leader and former minister M V Raghavan, died while the investigation was ongoing.
Railway Police at Chirala had also filed a case in connection with the incident and the trial was completed against the fourth and the fifth accused before the Assistant Sessions Court, Ongole, Andhra Pradesh. Dinesh was acquitted of criminal conspiracy and the attempt-to-murder charge. Hence, Dinesh was not included in the trial pending before the Sessions Court in Thiruvananthapuram as there is a bar under section 300 of CrPC that a person acquitted of an offence arising from a crime, cannot be tried again for the same.
In his petition, Sudhakaran argued that police chargesheet was malicious, filed at the instance of Jayarajan, with a view to harassing him to meet political ends. The incident happened in 1995 and the complainant and the prosecution have taken various steps to arraign him as accused which could not be sustained legally, he said. It is quite unjustifiable to subject him to trial after a long time, the plea stated.
The third accused, Rajeevan, also filed a petition seeking his discharge from the case.