Kerala High Court notice on Kannur murders

Kochi: Kerala High Court on Tuesday sought the state’s stand on a plea seeking CBI probe into  the political killings in the state. The court was considering a petition seeking CBI probe into the murders of seven BJP activists after the CPM-led LDF government came to power in May 2016. The Advocate general submitted before the court that compared to other districts, political murders were fewer in Kannur district. However, murders due to family disputes are also counted as political murder.

He told the court that the government has taken all effective measures to end political murders including holding peace talks. The AG submitted that it was not necessary to hand over the probe to any other agency as the local police was investigating the cases effectively.  The state further submitted that out of the seven cases cited in the petition, chargesheet was filed in four cases. There was no allegation regarding the probe till date. The Court directed the state government to file a counter affidavit on October 25 and posted the case to October 30. 

The court issued the order on the petition filed by R.K. Premdas, secretary of Gopalan Adiyodi Vakkeel Smaraka Trust seeking CBI probe into seven murder cases. The petition stated that out of the seven cases, four were registered in Kannur district, while one case each was registered at Palakkad, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram districts. It was alleged that state police is neither taking effective steps or impartial probe in these cases. The petition stated that in these cases CPM workers have been arraigned as accused. In some cases, the party activist from the constituency of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who also holds the home minister’s portfolio, are the accused.