Thiruvananthapuram/Kochi: The continuing war of words between KPCC president K Sudhakaran and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is likely to lead to the filing of several criminal cases.
Both the rival fronts, the Left Democratic Front and United Democratic Front, are mulling over lodging complaints based on the allegations, counter-charges and claims the leaders have been making over decades-old incidents.
Firing a fresh salvo at a news conference in Kochi on Saturday, Sudhakaran quoted from a claimed first information report, saying Vijayan had hacked Jana Sangham worker Vaadikkal Ramakrishanan to death with his own hands.
“Pinarayi Vijayan is the first accused. Vaadikkal Ramakrishnan’s murder triggered the riots involving the Jana Sangham and CPM in Thalassery. Pinarayi is the chief minister ruling this state. This is his background,” Sudhakaran said. Ramakrishnan was murdered in Thalassery on April 29, 1969.
Sudhakaran further accused Vijayan of having a role in the murder of Pettundayi Babu, the latter’s personal bodyguard for 20 years.
“Babu was killed when he arrived at the Thalassery court for a case. The party (CPM) called for a social boycott of Babu’s residence. They did not get anyone to dig the grave. The neighbour denied them a torch. Finally, we sent people to help bury Babu’s body. The people of Pinarayi will not forget these incidents,” the Congress leader said.
Sudhakaran said he does not have personal enmity towards Vijayan. “I oppose the violence his party unleashes. I am a political leader who has received the bodies of slain party workers with a heavy heart. I too have emotions, but I have never thought of killing a few CPM men,” he said.
The Congress’s Kannur strongman said he did not want to be an attacker or murdered. Whatever was done was in defence, he said, adding, “Only one murdered had happened at the hands of the Congress, that too by mistake,” Sudhakaran said.
Meanwhile, the LDF and UDF are seeking the possibility of taking the legal route based on Sudhakaran’s revelations. The Department of Law will examine means to link Sudhakaran with the “murder by mistake” of Nanu of Savoury Hotel in Kannur.
The department will also check the possibility of reinvestigating the Nalpadi Vasu, shot dead by Sudhakaran’s gunman at Mattannur on March 4, 1993. The plan is to follow the earlier UDF government’s model that charged and arrested MLA and former minister M M Mani based on his public speech in which he claimed his party had eliminated political foes in Idukki.
The Congress, meanwhile, is planning to file a case based on the revelations of Kandoth Gopy, who accompanied Sudhakaran to the news conference. Gopy said a 30-member gang under Vijayan had attacked him with swords. He also showed a scar on his hand, which he claimed was of an injury sustained while trying to defend himself.
He also alleged that though the police had then recorded his statement, an FIR was not filed.
