Kasaragod: A day after the visit of Kerala Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan to the houses of two slain Youth Congress workers at Periya in Kasaragod district kicked up a row, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan also expressed his wish to meet the bereaved families during his trip to the district on Friday but backed off at the eleventh hour following the advice of police and local CPM leaders.
Kerala is shocked by the two political murders and the Congress had claimed that its workers Sharathlal (Joshi) and Kripesh were hacked to death by CPM goons. Several CPM workers, including local committee member (now expelled) A Peethambaran, were arrested for the murders.
E Chandrasekharan is the CPI's minister in the cabinet. CPI is the second largest group after CPM in the ruing Left Democratic Front (LDF) in Kerala.
Pinarayi, who is in Kasaragod district on Friday for various programmes, had earlier expressed his wish to visit the houses of Sharathlal and Kripesh.
The chief minister was planning to visit the houses soon after the foundation laying ceremony of the CPM office in Kasaragod and he had informed the CPM district leaders about this. The CPM district leadership contacted the Congress district leaders and they replied that they were not sure about how the workers, relatives and friends of the slain youngsters would react when the chief minister visits the houses.
The police also said they were sceptical about the security issues and the possible protest by Congress and Youth Congress workers at Kallyott, a stronghold of Congress where the houses are situated.
Though E Chandrasekharan, who is also a native of the area and a CPI minister, visited the houses and consoled the families, Congress leaders were not sure how would the relatives react to the 'CPM' leader's visit.
“Pinarayi's visit would not be like Chandrasekharan's (visit). Chandrasekharan is a native and he belongs to the CPI. But Pinarayi is not like Chandrasekharan. Even the families would not like to see him. He is not like other chief ministers. His party is the main culprit in the murders. Our leadership has expressed dissent over the chief minister's visit as a measure not to provoke the party workers and the victims' friends in the area. He did not visit the houses of other victims of political violence on previous occasions. So why is he interested in visiting these houses now. Pinarayi did not even visit the families of political violence victims in his own constituency – Dharmadom,” said Balakrishnan Periya, a senior Congress leader.
The Congress workers are also enraged after police registered cases against 115 of them in the same village for resorting to violence after the twin murders. Balakrishnan himself is booked in four cases. Former panchayat president CK Aravindan is also facing charges in three cases.
“Soon after the murder, the police have registered cases against almost all non-CPM men in the village. A total of 115 of us are facing charges in 23 cases like arson, destruction of public property etc. In my family alone, five of us, including my brothers, are facing charges. In such a condition, we cannot assure that the workers would accept a visit by the chief minister now,” he added.
State police chief Loknath Behera on Thursday had ordered that the Crime Branch would probe the case. The family of the slain men and the Congress had called for a CBI investigation but that was not allowed.
All the seven accused in the first list of suspects were arrested by the cops. Main accused and CPM local committee member A Peethambaran (now expelled) was arrested on Tuesday and Saji George was arrested on Wednesday. Other five – Suresh, Gijin, Anil, Sreerag and Ashwin – were arrested on Thursday. Peethambaran and Saji were produced before Hosdurg first class magistrate and remanded in police custody. All the accused are CPM workers.
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