CBI files criminal conspiracy case against Jayarajan, Rajesh

Kochi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has slapped Section 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) against the accused in the Shukkoor murder case before Chief Judicial Magistrate Court. The CBI on Friday filed the FIR in the murder case and included CPM leaders P. Jayarajan and T.V. Rajesh in the FIR and retained the FIR filed by the Kannur police who investigated the case initially. Earlier, the High Court had criticised the CBI and questioned the agency why conspiracy charges were not framed against them.

CBI officially takes up probe: With the filing of the FIR, the CBI has officially started the investigation into the Shukkoor murder case. The High Court had earlier permitted the agency to go ahead with the probe. Though the state had handed over the probe to the CBI, the investigation was stalled after the accused got stay from the High Court. P. Jayarajan is the 32nd accused and Rajesh the 33rd. There are 33 accused in the case.

Abdul Shukkoor, an activist of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), was murdered allegedly by CPM activists at Keezhara in Kannur in February 2012. Earlier, the two CPM leaders had only been charged under Section 118 of the IPC (concealing design to commit offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life) in the case. The allegation was that CPM men were given the direction to ‘handle’ Shukkoor from the hospital where Jayarajan and Rajesh were admitted after the attack by the IUML sympathisers.