Kerala RSS leader murder: Vikraman’s claims confuse, SIT now looks for Jithin

KOZHIKODE: The Crime Branch would intensify its search for Jithin, the videographer and others, accused of the murder of RSS leader Manoj.  Though Vikraman, the key accused had revealed the names of all the other five members, the Special Investigation Team had decided not to arrest any of them without any evidence. Manoj was hacked to death while travelling in a Maruti Omni van on September 1, along with his friend Pramod. The SIT is moving cautiously as the State Government has already issued a notification on handing over the case to the CBI. According to sources, the police had received information from eye-witnesses about the role of Jithin in the murder on that day itself. Vikraman had revealed that the weapons used for the murder were thrown into the bushy patches on a hill at Kathiur and the clothes they had worn that day were thrown into the Kathirur river.

Though Vikraman revealed that all the others who were involved in the killing were from Kathirur, the police said that a few of them were outsiders. Though the police searched the bushy patches near an abandoned house at Kathirur for the weapons, as per the statement of Vikraman, nothing was found, sources said. The Crime Branch is struggling to link the statements of Vikraman as he has been changing his statements each time. Vikraman had changes the names of the co-accused during a second interrogation as the names given in the first round were found to be wrong.

Meanwhile VS support for CBI probe. In a clear deviation from the official line adopted by the CPM leadership in the State, Opposition Leader V.S.Achuthanandan has supported the State Government’s decision to hand over the Kathirur Manoj murder case to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The State Government had no option but to hand over the probe to the CBI, he told reporters in Kochi on Sunday. What else could it do?, he quipped in response to questions from mediapersons.The CPM leadership in the State has termed the decision to order a CBI probe as an attempt by Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala to please the BJP leadership.