The Special Investigation Team probing the T.P. Chandrasekharan murder has informed the Vadakara first class judicial magistrate court on Friday that the killing was done with the connivance of the top CPM leaders.
The probe team stated this while seeking an extension of the custody of P. Mohanan, member of the CPM district secretariat. It submitted that, by now, it was having “disjointed pieces of information” about the involvement of the top leaders of the party. To establish the linkages, further questioning of Mohanan was essential, the SIT said.
Upon this, the court extended his custody for five more days. Counsel for Mr Mohanan pleaded that his client was kept in custody all these days on the basis of a phone conversation lasting just 51 seconds. Counsel also said the demand for more time for questioning was not justified as Mohanan was kept most of the time in the lock-up during the past seven days.
The SIT filed cases against two more prominent CPM leaders on Friday. CPM Kannur district secretariat member Karayi Rajan and Panur area secretary K.K. Pavithran were the two leaders to figure in the list of the accused. Karayai Rajan is currently under CBI custody in the Fazal murder case. Rajan was chargesheeted for facilitating the hideout and treatment of Sijith, a member of the killer squad, while Pavithran was accused of finding shelter to P.K. Kunhananthan, the alleged mastermind behind the TPC murder. The police custody of Kunhanathan will be over on Saturday. The probe team is likely to seek an extension of custody while presenting him before the court.