The CBI charged Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan with murder and Kalliasseri MLA TV Rajesh with conspiracy involving the killing of Indian Muslim Youth League worker Ariyil Abdul Shukoor in 2012
Kannur: The Central Bureau of Investigation charged two Communist Party of India (Marxist) leaders on Monday for their alleged roles in a political assassination.
As per reports, the agency charged Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan for murder and Kalliasseri MLA TV Rajesh for conspiracy involving the killing of Indian Muslim Youth League worker Ariyil Abdul Shukoor in 2012.
The investigators claimed that Shukoor was murdered because he had allegedly blocked and attacked the vehicle in which the accused CPI(M) leaders were travelling. His murder occurred within hours of the attack on their vehicle.
According to the case, Shukoor was killed on February 20, 2012, at CPI(M) stronghold Cherukunnu Keezhara, Kerala. He was stabbed to death after being detained and questioned for two and a half hours. His friend Zakaria also got severely injured in the attack.
The case was handed over to the CBI in 2016.
Shukoor was a 22-year-old local leader of Muslim League’s student organisation MSF.
The charge sheet was filed by the team under SP Harikumar, according to the instruction of the Supreme Court stating that it should be submitted within three months.
In the charge sheet, it is said that the conspiracy was hatched at the hospital where Jayarajan and Rajesh sought treatment soon after the attack on their car.
The investigation team filed the charge sheet in the Thalassery sessions court seven years after the Kerala high court ordered a CBI investigation into the matter in June 2016.
Earlier in August 2012, Jayarajan was first arrested and later remanded to custody for 14 days in the same case. Communist activists had staged many protests soon after his arrest.
Jayarajan was also accused in another case filed in connection with the murder of Elamthottathil Manoj, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker, as per reports.
Jayarajan was the 32nd accused and Rajesh is the 33rd accused in the case. The court will consider the case on February 14.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) has claimed the charges are part of a political agenda by the central government ahead of Lok Sabha elections.
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