Killer of Kannur

CPM ordered rebel’s murder, says killer
VR Jayaraj | Kozhikode

The Kerala CPI(M), already battered by allegations of involvement in several political killings, has suffered yet another blow with TK Rajeesh, one of the killers of rebel Marxist leader TP Chandrasekharan of Onchiyam in Kozhikode district, telling the police that the murder was carried out as per instructions of the party and that it was not a contract job.

Rajeesh, arrested the other day, has reportedly told the police that he joined the gang of killers that hacked Chandrasekharan to death on May 4 after PK Kunhananthan, a member of the CPI(M)’s Panur area committee in Kannur, and ‘Kirmani’ Manoj and Anoop, members of the killer gang. He said he was in Mumbai when Kunhananthan, presently in hiding, called him.

The disclosure by Rajeesh is a big blow to the CPI(M) as it has been continuously claiming that it had nothing to do with the rebel’s murder. His disclosure has also disproved the theory of State CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan that Chandrasekharan’s murder could have been a contract job carried out by mafia elements for someone’s personal benefits.

Rajeesh has reportedly made a more stunning admission to the police that he had been involved in five other political murders in the Kannur region, including the brutal killing of Yuva Morcha leader KT Jayakrishnan in Mokeri, Panur on December 1, 1999 and the murders of BJP workers Vijith and Sinoj in New Mahe in May, 2010.

Police officials indicated that Rajeesh’s statement to the special investigation team probing the Chandrasekharan murder could lead to the reopening of several murder cases in the Kannur region. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had the other day said that the Government would order re-investigation into the Jayakrishnan murder if there were fresh evidences.

Rajeesh is said to have told the investigating officials that the rebel’s murder was not planned by him. He was only one of the seven members of the gang that killed him, he said. The men who carried out the actual attack were ‘Kodi’ Suni, “Kirmani’ Manoj and Sijith, a resident of Mahe already arrested by the police.

Rajeesh, held from a village near the Goa-Maharashtra border five days back, was remanded by a court in Vadakara, Kozhikode in judicial custody till June 22. Four persons who had helped him to live in hiding have also been arrested. With this, the total number of persons arrested so far in the Chandrasekharan murder case rose to 28 including eight Marxists.

The arrested killer also told the police that he joined the killer team only because the call had come from the CPI(M) and that he had taken no money for the job. A total of three attempts had been made to kill Chandrasekharan and he was there during all those attempts. He added that he had taken no money for the job.

According to Rajesh, Kunhananthan had called him from his house after he had drawn up the execution plan with “Kirmani’ Manoj and Anoop. The police had issued a lookout notice for Kunhananthan two weeks ago. Unconfirmed reports said that Kunhananthan had already fallen into the police’s net.

Rajeesh has claimed that he had participated only in the planning of the method of killing and not in the conspiracy. He had coordinated the gang with ‘Kodi’ Suni and others just because the instructions were given by the CPI(M), he said.

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