KOCHI: The ruling CPM got another blow in the Periya double-murder case with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday arraigning its former MLA and Kasargod district secretariat leader K V Kunhiraman and five others as accused persons in the murder of Youth Congress workers Kripesh, 19, and Sarath Lal PK, 24, on February 17, 2019.
The CBI named Kunhiraman as an accused in its report submitted before the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court after it produced the five persons, all CPM men, arrested on Wednesday for their role in the murder of the two Youth Congress workers in Periya, Kasaragod.
The court remanded the five persons - A Surendran, Madhu A, Reji Varghese, Hari Prasad, and Rajesh P -- to judicial custody till December 15.
According to the CBI sources, Kunhiraman was questioned twice including two days ago at Kasargod as part of the case. CBI is yet to decide on recording his arrest.
"Evidence regarding his direct role in the murder is yet to surface in our investigation. But we will question him again soon. Currently, charges against him are to aid some of the persons directly involved in the murder after the incident. However, whether he has any role in the conspiracy is still under the probe. We will decide on the arrest procedure based on the evidence we receive in the course of the investigation," sources said.
As per the report filed by CBI, after the twin murder, police could secure second accused Saji George from the Pakkam area in Kasaragod on February 18/19, 2019. Kunhiraman, 59, a native of Uduma West, Kasargod, along with the other two accused persons and CPM leaders forcefully took Saji from the police detention. Other than Kunhiraman, the CBI arraigned CPM workers Raghavan Velutholy, Pakkam Kasargod; K V Baskaran, Pakkam Kasargod; Gopa Kumar alias Gopan Velutholy, Panayal Kasargod and Sandeep P V alias Sandeep Velutholy of Pallikare, Kasargod. Raghavan and Bhaskaran accompanied Kunhiraman to release Saji from police detention.
The CBI claimed that Gopakumar gave logistical assistance to the assailant team and also provided clothes and shelter. One of the accused arrested previously by the police stayed at Gopakumar's house on February 17/18, 2019. He and co-accused Sandeep in their bike followed a car in which accused persons were dropped at the CPM Party office. The car was owned by the ninth accused Murali driven by one Alakkode Mani. He was also involved in the disappearance of evidence by burning the dresses of the assailant team and providing them with new dresses. Sandeep was also involved in the disappearance of evidence by burning the dresses of the assailant group. He also made arrangements for the travel on accused Subeesh to UAE via Bengaluru.
Meanwhile, CBI has not filed a petition seeking the custody of the five persons arrested.
"We are yet to decide on seeking their custody. But interrogation of arrested A Surendran, the 15th accused is vital. He has played an active role in the murder incident. In fact, the conspiracy for the murder was hatched after Surendran and the first accused Peethambaran were assaulted on January 5, 2019. He was giving information about the movement of deceased Sarathlal to assailant group," an officer said.
CBI maintains that the arrested persons, Madhu A, Reji Varghese, Hari Prasad A, and Rajesh P were part of the conspiracy of the murder.
"Madhu is the uncle of Gijin and Aswin part of the assailant group. Apart from conspiracy, Reji Varghese provided the iron rods to the assailant group. Hari Prasad as part of the conspiracy used his car for transporting the other accused persons. Rajesh who is the CPM branch secretary of Echladukkam Branch also was part of the conspiracy," an officer said.
The next challenge before the CBI is to file the charge sheet on or before December 4 -- the deadline set by the Kerala High Court. "We are trying to complete the probe and file charge sheet before the deadline ends. However, there are other provisions like filing a preliminary charge sheet now and seeking further investigation based on which a supplementary charge sheet would be filed later. We can also seek an extension of the deadline set by the High Court citing the current progress of the probe," an officer.
The case initially probed by the Kerala Police was handed over to CBI on September 30, 2019, after several flaws were seen in the investigation. Even state government even approached the Supreme Court to avoid a CBI investigation, it could not succeed.