Trial into Muthanga agitation, murder starts

KOZHIKODE: After fifteen years of the Muthanga agitation, the trial in the murder of a policeman  started at the district and sessions court here on Tuesday. This followed the High Court direction to  the district court here to facilitate the trial of the case  which was investigated by the CBI. It may be recalled that the 46-day struggle in the Muthanga range of Wayanad Wildlife Sanctuary had ended up in bloodshed with the killing of two persons- Jogy, a tribal chieftain,  and Vinod, a policeman, on February 19, 2003.  

The trial which was scheduled to begin at CBI court, Kochi, was shifted to Kalpetta after representation by tribals as all the accused were from Wayanad.  The court would examine 57 accused and 65 witnesses during the trial. Mr  T.M. Rasheed,  counsel  of Adivasi Gothra Maha Sabha,  told DC that  the shifting of the trial  would help the tribals to appear in the court easily.  "We have been demanding this for quite some time," he said and added that otherwise it would have been tough for the accused, all  tribals,   to go to the  CBI court in Kochi.  

Interestingly, the trial began exactly one day after the 15th anniversary of the end of Muthanga agitation. Now political rivals C.K. Janu and M. Geethanandan were leaders of the agitation. Geethanandan was considered as the mastermind while  Janu was the face of the agitation.  Now Janu is a fellow traveller of Sangh Parivar allying  with the BJP.   The court would examine then DIG, North Zone N. Shanker Reddy, then commandant of KAP battalion, Kannur, Suresh raj Purohit, who headed the police action, and many officials and forest personnel. Tribal agitators had managed to take two hostages, one from the police and another from the forest personnel during the eviction of the agitators which forced the police to end the operation midway.

Only after the arrival of Suresh Raj Purohit to the spot at Muthanga the eviction was resumed in the afternoon which resulted in the two deaths. AGMS leader Janu told DC that they have been demanding the withdrawal of the case as many of them are innocent. "In the list of the accused, there are people who never went to the spot," she said.