The opposition staged a walk out in the Assembly on Tuesday in protest against what it termed the LDF government's refusal to hand over the details of the Crime Branch investigation into the Periya murders to the CBI. “What have you got to fear if there is no blood in your hands,” opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala asked.
It was on February 17, 2019, that Sarath Lal and Kripesh, Youth Congress leaders, were killed in Periya, Kasaragod. Among the accused are local leaders of the CPM.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, however, gave a clear hint that the Crime Branch case diary would be passed on to the CBI only after the High Court division bench issued an order on the appeal filed by the government. On September 30, the High Court single bench had cancelled the Crime Branch charge sheet and asked the CBI to take over the investigation into the Periya deaths.
The government quickly went in appeal against the single bench order. “The State Government was against the order and so we appealed against it. The government is well within its right to appeal against the order,” the Chief Minister said. The HC division bench order is still pending.
Congress MLA Shafi Parambil, who moved the adjournment motion on the issue, wanted to know why the government was spending lakhs to prevent the CBI from taking up the case if, as the CPM claimed, it had no role in the murders. “The money is not given from the AKG Centre or from the 'bucket collection' of the CPM or even from the pockets of your pet capitalists but from the taxpayer's hard-earned money,” Shafi said.
He made the government's decision to use tax money to block a CBI probe sound like a profound betrayal. “You have used the money the parents of Sarath and Kripesh had paid as tax, for the oil and cloth and wood, to conduct the funeral rites of their sons to protect their killers,” Shafi said.
The Chief Minister but responded to this in a matter of fact manner. “For any action taken in the name of the government, the money would be paid from the government funds,” Pinarayi Vijayan said. He also sounded defiant. “We will spent even more to get more clarity on the issue,” he said; a clear hint that the government would move the Supreme Court if the HC division bench order, too, goes against it.
It was also obvious that the Chief Minister was provoked by Shafi's speech. He called Shafi's observations “nonsense” the moment he began his speech. “Is the government supposed to reply to the nonsense (viduvayitham) uttered by members,” he said.
The Chief Minister's words triggered a bout of angry shouts from the opposition, which in turn, provoked industries minister E P Jayarajan to shout certain English abuses at the opposition members. The net result was pandemonium.
Finally, when the Chief Minister could resume his speech he kept up the provocation. He continued to use the word 'viduvayitham' repeatedly as though he was taking part in an elocution competition that insisted that all sentences begin with 'viduvayatham'.
It was Shafi's opening statement that could have prompted the Chief Minister's 'viduvayatham' remark. “The Chief Minister should not devalue himself into a justification labourer (nyayeekarana thozhilali) for the DGP. Please take back your job as the home minister from the DGP,” Shafi said.
The Chief Minister had directed his ire at Muslim League leader M K Muneer, too. Criticising the 'viduvayitham' remark, Muneer said he wondered whether he was in the Assembly or inside the AKG centre where diktats are issued from the top. The Chief Minster got up and shouted over Muneer. “AKG Centre is not your League House.” Muneer did not expect this, and was rattled for a moment.
Earlier, Shaji had also quoted from the High Single Bench's order that said that the Crime Branch had depended more on the testimonies of the accused than on the statements of the witnesses. “The HC had said that even the forensic report had not been noted in the charge sheet. If this is allowed to continue, the Court said that the accused will go scot free,” Shafi said.
The court had also said that the Police had not taken seriously even the fact that the accused had visited the party office after the murder was committed. The Chief Minister, in his reply, said that the government had serious differences of opinion with the HC verdict.
