Can’t give minutes of meeting, CPM to SIT

[1]

The CPI (M) Rajakkad area committee on Thursday said it cannot hand over minutes of internal party meetings in 1982-83 to the SIT probing the Anchery Baby murder, claiming it does not keep "old" documents.

The SIT had earlier sought minutes of the area committee sessions following depositions of some of the witnesses that the party meetings had discussed the murder.

The party’s helplessness to hand over the documents was communicated in a letter to the SIT, headed by the SP, P. Prakash.

The SIT move, said to be unprecedented, has raised questions whether it violated the rights of political parties.

But, a lawyer here said the police had powers under Section 91 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) to seek out any document that would throw light on a case.

“If somebody refuses to part with such a document, the police can conduct a raid to seize it ,” said S. Rajeev, senior criminal lawyer.

The decision to further probe the Anchery Baby murder was taken after the CPI (M) Idukki secretary, M.M. Mani, disclosed last month that Baby had been shot dead on the basis of a hit-list of political rivals prepared by the party.

Sources, meanwhile, said that the SIT would issue another notice to CPM seeking the minutes of the meeting.