The SIT probing the TPC murder arrested CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretariat member P. Mohanan, a henchman of the Pinarayi faction, on Friday. Mohanan, accompanied by CPM leaders, was returning from Chorode after participating in the 10th death anniversary programme of CPI(M) leader M. Dasan.
It was deputy SP A.P. Shoukkathali, the point man of the SIT, who led the team that blocked the vehicle in which Mohanan was travelling.
The police team followed the vehicle and blocked it in front of Koyilandy police station. Mr Shoukkathali informed the other leaders in the car that he was picking Mohanan in connection with the TPC murder.
Other CPI(M)-DYFI leaders who accompanied Mohanan in the car were M. Mehboob, M. Bhaskaran and P.A. Mohammed Riaz, who made a futile attempt to resist the police action. A minor scuffle followed, according to the police. Mohanan was transported to the SIT camp office at Vadakara in the same car. It marked the end of a hide-and-seek game between the leader and the SIT for the last few days.
A section of the CPI(M) district leaders was extremely cautious in protecting Mohanan from the SIT as his arrest was anticipated soon after the arrest of P.K. Kunhananthan, the alleged mastermind. Mohanan appeared in public only in select mass programmes organised by the CPI(M) or in the presence of a host of party leaders, which made the SIT to take the extreme step of blocking the leader on the National Highway in broad daylight.
Though the SIT had made several attempts to arrest the CPI(M) leader from his home soon after the arrest of Kunhananthan, he evaded the police net. For many days, he opted to sleep in the houses of other leaders.