Kochi, Dec 2 The ongoing CBI probe into the brutal murder of two Youth Congress workers (Periya double murder case) has sent shockwaves to the ruling CPI-M. The remand report, filed before the CBI court here, states that former CPI-M Udma legislator K.V. Kunhiraman is the 21st accused in the case.
On Wednesday, the CBI arrested five CPI-M leaders from Kasargode and they were brought here on Thursday and produced before the court, which remanded all to judicial custody till December 15. It was in the remand report that the CBI mentioned that the Crime Branch police probe had arrested 14.
The report further states that they have now arrested five, and the five more accused are there who have not been arrested yet, 'but a call will be taken later'. The name of Kunhiraman comes in this list of five.
Incidentally, the CBI's deft moves came at a time when the Crime Branch probe report was all set to be filed.
It was on December 1, 2020, the Pinarayi Vijayan government suffered a huge setback when the apex court upheld the verdict of the Kerala High Court's division bench to handover this murder case probe to the CBI. After a year, on Wednesday, the CBI arrested the five CPI-M leaders in the case.
Wednesday's arrest by the CBI was the first after they took over the probe and the total number of arrests has reached 19, as 14 had been arrested by the Crime Branch police earlier.
The gruesome murder took place on February 17, 2019 at Periya in Kasargode district.
Youth Congress workers, Krupesh, 19, and Sharath Lal Joshy, 24, were attacked by three motorcycle-borne men while returning from an event. While Krupesh died at the Kasargode district hospital, Joshy succumbed to his injuries on his way to a medical facility in Mangaluru, Karnataka.
The family members of the victims and the Congress have been demanding a CBI probe from the outset, saying that the police had failed to arrest the real accused, who, according to them, are senior CPI-M leaders in Kasargode who had conspired to eliminate the two young Congress workers.
The family then approached the High Court and the Single Bench approved of it, but the Pinarayi Vijayan government appealed in the division bench, which upheld the single bench verdict. The Vijayan government then approached the Supreme Court and on December 1, 2020, the apex court upheld the division bench verdict.
The parents of the deceased on Thursday expressed happiness hearing the names of Kunhiraman and other top local leaders being arraigned as accused.
"This was what we were waiting about as the murder was a well-planned with the full knowledge of the top CPI-M leadership. Would the Kerala Crime branch ever list Kunhiraman as an accused. What's surprising is that those whose names were not there before have now become accused and this can be done only by the CBI. More leaders are there in the conspiracy," said the father of one of the two youths who was murdered.
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