The citadel of CPM politics in the state is agog with rumours that party district secretary P Jayarajan, who has been summoned by the police for a third round of interrogation on Wednesday in connection with Abdul Shukkoor murder case, is likely to be arrested towards the end of the grilling. The questioning in connection with the conspiracy behind the murder of the young Muslim League worker is scheduled to take place at the office of the Circle Inspector here.
One of the most sensational murder cases in the region that brought the Muslim League leadership face to face with its CPM counterpart, the Shukkoor murder case is heading for a climax with the questioning of P Jayarajan and T V Rajesh MLA. Almost all the 36 persons arrested in the case so far are either active CPM workers or supporters of the party.
The culmination of this episode of political violence is now hinged on the two CPM leaders. Ironically, the investigating police team too has found itself in a Catch-22 situation as it could neither exonerate nor implicate the two leaders so far.
The questioning of Jayarajan on Wednesday is crucial as the probe team has to either arrest him or give him a clean chit after the process. In fact, the general impression of both the public and the legal experts is that no one can’t be placed in the shadow of suspicion so long. According to available indication from the police sources, they so far couldn’t find any substantial evidence to prove that T V Rajesh had any direct link with the conspiracy relating to Shukkoor murder.
It was on February 20 that the car in which the two CPM leaders were travelling was attacked. The murder took place a few hours after they were admitted to the Taliparamba Cooperative Hospital, nearly 15 kilometres away from the place of the murder.
Asked whether the police were planning to arrest Jayarajan, District Superintendent of Police Rahul R Nair said that “he wouldn’t like to speculate on anything”. He was also not ready to rule out the possibility of arresting the CPM district secretary.
Obviously, the police top brass, waiting for the clearance of the government for the arrest, seemed to be visibly worried about the consequences of the action on the law and order situation in the most sensitive political region in the state. At the same time, the investigating officials including the district police chief had no idea whether P Jayarajan would turn up before them to face another round of questioning. Jayarajan himself was unavailable for comments when contacted by ‘Express’, as he was busy with the regional reporting of the central committee deliberations including the public censure of his senior party colleague V S Achuthanandan, at Taliparamba.
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