Kasaragod: The probe into the Periya twin murder case has been handed over to the Crime Branch from the local police. State police chief, DGP Loknath Behera, on Thursday ordered the shifting of the case. Though the family of the slain Youth Congress workers – Sharathlal (Joshi) and Kripesh - as well as the Congress party had requested for an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), the new change in investigation was unexpected.

Kasaragod district police chief Dr A Srinivas was already shifted to the Crime Branch recently (before the twin murder). Srinivas will be in charge of the Crime Branch in Kasaragod and Kannur districts. On Wednesday, James Joseph took over as the new district police chief in Kasaragod. Since Srinivas had been supervising the murder of the youngsters and a sudden change in the investigation team was likely to upset its progress, the case was shifted, sources close to the probe team said.

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All the seven accused in the first list of suspected were arrested by the police. Main accused CPM local committee member A Peethambaran (now expelled) was arrested on Tuesday and Saji George was arrested on Wednesday. Other five – Suresh, Girijan, Anil, Sreerag and Aswin were arrested on Thursday. Peethambaran and Saji were produced before Hosdurg first class magistrate and remanded into police custody. All the accused are affiliated to the CPM.

According to police, four of the seven suspects, including Peethambaran, were hiding in CPM office after the murder on Sunday night. Police said this was revealed by the arrested persons. They stayed in the CPM office near Chattanchal till Monday morning. Three other suspects in the case spent the night at houses of party affiliates. All seven were moved to a secret location early on Monday. Highways were avoided to evade arrest with the help of local party members, police said after questioning the arrested.

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Party leaders then called the police and made the suspects surrender. Accommodation for all, including Peethambaran, was arranged in an influential area of the party. Though the party leadership claimed innocence in the murder, Peethambaran's family told media that he would not dare to commit such a crime without the knowledge of the party. They had also revealed that top leaders arrived at their house and offered all legal and financial support.

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