Kannur killings: Government to provide details to HC

The High Court had directed the government to furnish the details as to how many political murders had taken place in the division in the last one year; in how many cases final investigation report had been filed and in how many cases investigation was going on, with details, including dates. The court had sought the stage of all sessions trials.

The government challenged the same before the Supreme Court contending that the High Court had no power to call for such details in an application for bail.

The Supreme Court directed the government to furnish to the High Court the details sought for by the High Court.

While granting bail to three accused in M K Sudheer Kumar murder case, Justice K Hema directed to post the case to July 15, to consider the report to be filed by the government concerning political murders.

The three accused, Nithin Mohanan alias Boby, Saju, and Vinish alias Kunjikkuttan, all hailing from Kavumbhagam, Thalassery, had been in jail after surrender on December 3, 2007.

The prosecution case is that on hearing that a person belonging to their political party (BJP/RSS) was assaulted by the activists of the CPM, they entered into a criminal conspiracy with the other accused (there are seven accused) and decided to kill a person of the CPM in retaliation, and formed themselves into an unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapons, and waylaid a car and pulled out the driver and killed him as he was a CPM sympathiser.

The prosecution opposed the bail application on the grounds that there would be law and order problem in the locality.