CBI Court declines P Jayarajan plea

KOCHI: The CBI Court hearing the Kathiroor Manoj murder case here on Monday rejected the contentions of counsel for CPM leader P Jayarajan against imposing Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on him and asked him to challenge such aspects during later stage. The CBI Court accepted the supplementary chargesheet against six more persons, including Jayarajan, accused in the murder of the RSS leader in Kannur. The counsel appearing for the accused argued that sanction from the State Government was required to impose Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) on him and the court said that such contentions can be raised in later stages of the case.

The counsel for CBI argued that it had got Central Government sanction which is required for imposing UAPA.  This was opposed by the counsel for the accused who argued that instead of Central Government permission, the permission of the State Government was required which the CBI had not got. The counsel for the accused argued that even NIA has to obtain sanction from the state government in cases charged with UAPA sections. The court ordered that after going through documents produced by CBI, it could find that there is a case against the accused as per the supplementary chargesheet filed by the CBI.

The court ordered accused including P Jayarajan to be present at the court on November 16. It was in September 2015 that Manoj was murdered allegedly by CPM activists. The case was first probed by Kerala police and then by CBI. CBI has filed chargesheet against 25 accused in the case. CBI investigation revealed that it was Jayarajan who plotted the murder to unleash a reign of terror to stop CPM cadres from flowing to BJP and take revenge for an attack on Jayarajan in 1999.