THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to Home Minister Amit Shah, urging him to transfer the case of the two students, who were arrested for alleged links with Maoists, from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to state police.
The state police had arrested Alan Suhaib and Thaha Fazal last year and had charged them under sections of Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. However, the NIA took over the case.
The Chief Minister wrote the letter to Shah on February 5 requesting to allow NIA to hand over the case to the state police.
In the letter addressed to Shah, Vijayan said, "I request you to kindly give appropriate directions and grant approval to the National Investigating Agency for handing over the case back to the Kerala Police to carry on with the investigations which were being effectively carried out."
"The state government is of the opinion that taking over of investigation by the NIA at a stage when the Kerala Police has been effectively investigating the case is quite unwarranted," he added.
Vijayan also highlighted the support of the opposition on the case being investigated by the state police.
"The case was being investigated satisfactorily by the Kerala Police. In the Kerala legislative Assembly, the issue of the tackle over of the case by the NIA came up for discussion. The opposition parties also expressed the view that the case should be investigated by the Kerala Police. This reveals a consensual view in favor of the continued investigation by the Kerala Police," he said.
Suhaib and Fazal, two students from Kozhikode, were arrested by the police from Pantheerankavu in Kozhikode for allegedly distributing pro-Maoist pamphlets following the gunning down of alleged Maoists by the Thunderbolt force in the forests of Palakkad.
The duo had claimed that they are CPI (M) workers.
On Tuesday, the opposition including the Congress and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) had staged a walkout and slammed Vijayan for not interfering into the matter.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala and IUML leader MK Muneer had demanded that the Kerala Chief Minister should ask the Centre to transfer the case back to state police.