A Comrade’s Murder

The judgment on a brutal political assassination

The judgment on a brutal political assassination

In a major blow to the CPM in Kerala, an additional sessions court found 12 accused, including three CPM local leaders, guilty of the murder of TP Chandrasekharan—the leader of the Revolutionary Marxist Party. This is the most political murder in the state in recent times, and sent waves of shock across Kerala in 2012. Though the acquittal of another prominent CPM leader, P Mohanan—a member of the Kozhikode district secretariat—brought some relief to the party, the comments made by the judge referring to the ‘political animosity behind the murder’ left little doubt about the CPM’s involvement.

Among the 12 who were found guilty of the crime, eleven have been awarded life imprisonment. This includes Manojan, a former branch secretary in Kozhikode district, PK Kunjanandan, a member of Panoor area committee, and KC Ramachandran, another local committee member in Kozhikode district. The seven-member killer gang, whom the court found to have been assassins hired to annihilate a ‘political enemy’, was awarded life imprisonment, too.

TP Chandrasekharan, who walked out of the party and formed the RMP in 2009, was hacked to death on 4 May 2012. The brutality of the murder by the hired assassins sent a shiver down people’s spines, even those belonging to the CPM. The undercurrents triggered by this murder in and outside the CPM were manifold. The party lost a by-election in Neyyattinkara Assembly constituency, which was held soon after the murder, despite the existence of a strong anti-incumbency sentiment against the Congress. Many local level and area-level committees of the party were shaken by the mass exodus in protest against the murder.

The chargesheet was submitted in three months, and the trial began in February 2013. In no other crime has the state witnessed such a noisy media trial that ran parallel to the investigation and legal proceedings all along till the judgment. The judge also made a point about the media trial, observing that ‘the court would not be influenced by the pandemonium created by the media’. The case is also unique for the number of prosecution witnesses who later turned hostile. Of a total of 166 prosecution witnesses, 52 turned hostile during the trial, which is likely to have resulted in weakening the prosecution’s case.

The court observed that the murder was pre-planned, ruthless, barbaric and brutal: ‘It shocks not only the judicial conscience, but the collective conscience of society’. The court further noted that annihilating political rivals will mark the death of democracy. It also stated that the members of the killer gang were mere ‘tools in the hands of the persons who entertained political enmity towards the deceased’.

The members of the killer gang, who were awarded life imprisonment, are MC Anoop, Manoj Kumar alias Kirmani Manoj, N K Sunil Kumar alias Kodi Suni, T K Rajeesh, KK Muhammad Shafi and S Sijith alias Annan Shijith. They have recently hit headlines in Kerala for active social networking in jail. They have been updating their Facebook pages regularly while in prison. The snaps of jail uploaded by them were greeted with a flood of ‘likes’ and comments. A case has been registered for this.

KK Rama, the wife of the slain TP Chandrasekharan, has demanded a CBI probe to unearth the conspiracy that led to her husband’s killing, and the alleged involvement of the CPM. She is planning a sit-in agitation before the secretariat from 1 February. The state government may concede this demand as it would politically benefit the ruling UDF, but the question of whether the CBI would take a call or not remains uncertain.

Among the 76 accused listed by the prosecution, 22 have been discharged by the trial court for want of evidence. The trial against 15 accused, including KK Ragesh, a state committee member of the CPM, has been stayed by the High Court. The ninth accused, who was the CPM area secretary of Onchiyam (the bastion of TP Chandrasekharan’s party RMP), CH Ashokan, died last year during the trial. Two accused are still at large.

CPMKeralaTP Chandrasekharan