
Finally, for the first time in his life, P K Kunjananthan, whom former police officers refer to as the master co-ordinator of political killings in Kannur, has landed in police custody. Kunjananthan is alleged to be the mastermind behind hatching the conspiracy to murder RMP leader T P Chandrasekharan.
CPI(M) Panoor area committee member Kunjananthan is a man of many garbs. For the past 30 years, he has been reigning supreme both as the ‘Operation Leader’ of CPI(M)’s political killings in Kannur as well as Mr Fix-It for the hit-men.While being an ever-smiling political friend of the police, Kunjananthan has been the most trusted and disciplined man for the ‘Kannur Marxist Party.’
A former SP in Kozhikode said it right, “He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. Behind the smiling face, Kunjananthan hides real terror. Yet, to my knowledge, he has never been arraigned as an accused in any case. Except for a bike accident in early 2000, Kunjananthan never had had to suffer much.”
He has been acting as the main link between senior leaders of the party and gangsters and look after the finance, medical, legal assistance and welfare of the accused.
However, he holds the image of a good Samaritan among authorities in Panoor, Kolavalloor, Chokli, Koothuparamba, Thalassery, Edakkad, New Mahe, Palloor and Nadapuram regions. “After the murder, he used to be the first party man to contact the investigators with the list of accused. The weapons used for murder and witnesses would then follow. In fact, he lessened the work for the police,” a police officer said, but preferred not to be named. Another official still remembers a rare gesture from Kunjananthan. “While dealing with a tense situation, CPI(M) activists hurled bombs at the police. After the incident, Kunjananthan apologised for the incident on behalf of his men.’’
Former Kozhikode SP N Subash Babu said Kunjananthan could lay bare the real conspiracy behind various political killings, including the murder of K T Jayakrishnan Master, Panniyannur Chandran, Mohammed Fazal and T P Chandrasekharan besides a number of incidents of violence in Kannur and at Nadapuram regions. “If interrogated properly, he could reveal the names of real conspirators in those cases,” he said.
According to police sources, Kunjananthan reportedly revealed during interrogation that the killer gang members Kodi Suni, Kirmani Manoj and M C Anoop reached his house and he contacted T K Rajeesh, who was in Mumbai from his land phone in their presence.
Earlier, Rajeesh had disclosed that he was contacted by Kunjananthan when he was in Mumbai.
Police gathered more clues regarding the involvement of Kunjananthan during the interrogation of killer gang members Rajeesh, Sijith and M C Anoop, who confirmed that the murder plot was hatched by Kodi Suni and Kirmani Manoj along with Kunjananthan as per the directions of two senior party leaders from Kannur. Later, with the arrest of Kodi Sunni, the SIT got more substantial evidence on the involvement of Kunjananthan. Meanwhile, touching the raw nerves of the CPI(M), the SIT has arrested prominent party leader P Mohanan in connection with the Chandrasekharan’s murder case.
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Mullappally Ramachandran has said that those arrested in the T P Chandrasekharan murder case were venomous snakes of the CPI(M).