KANNUR: Memorial tombs (Smriti mandapam) of CPM leaders at Payyambalam, Kannur, were defaced by miscreants on Wednesday night. The tombs of former CM E K Nayanar, former CPM state secretaries Chadayan Govindan, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and O Bharatan were found defaced by pouring a chemical compound.
The incident came to light when visitors came to pay floral tributes to Swadesabhimani Ramakrishna Pillai on his birth anniversary early on Thursday morning. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s memorial tomb was defaced and was stained with a chemical solution. Though CPM workers tried to clean it by pouring water, they couldn’t remove the stain.
CPM state secretary M V Govindan. Kannur LDF candidate M V Jayarajan, P K Sreemathi, V Sivadasan, MP, K P Sahadevan, CPM district acting secretary T V Rajesh, N Chandran and minister Ramachandran Kadannappalli visited the place. After visiting Payyambalam, Govindan said that there was a conspiracy behind the vandalism and party workers should exercise selfrestraint at this stage.
“It should be investigated whether there was a conspiracy behind the act to divert people’s attention from political issues. In fact, martyrs’ tombs are something that people look at emotionally. So when these kind of situations arise, its emotional impact on people will be huge. In this situation, I request all party workers to exercise self-restraint,” Govindan told reporters. M V Jayarajan told reporters that memorial tombs of a particular section of leaders were targeted.
“Only CPM leaders’ tombs were vandalised. There are some clear political intentions behind these acts. The intention is to create a mess during election time. Police should take vigorous action to find out the culprits behind it,” said Jayarajan. Elamaram Kareem, the LDF candidate in Kozhikode, said that the forces behind the act are trying to create tension in the state.
Meanwhile, UDF leaders from Kannur also visited the memorials where the atrocities took place. DCC president Martin George said that the incident was a heinous crime and that the conspiracy should be brought out and the accused should be arrested immediately. Following CPM district acting secretary T V Rajesh’s complaint, the Kannur Town police registered a case in connection with the incident.
The case was registered under IPC Section 153 (provocation with intent to cause riot). City police commissioner Ajit Kumar informed that they have collected CCTV visuals from the area and an investigation has been started.
The commissioner said that it was too early to ascertain whether the incident was politically motivated. Meanwhile, Kannur town police told TNIE that an inspection at the place indicated that the incident happened on Wednesday night. After analysing the CCTV visuals, we think that a single person is behind the vandalism, he said.
