Crime Branch files FIR in Marad massacre case

Kochi: The CBI on Thursday registered an FIR before the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in the second Marad massacre case pursuant to a High Court directive. SP P. Shiyas belonging  to the Thiruvananthapuram unit of the CBI  reproduced the same FIR filed by the Crime Branch which investigated the case after the riots in 2003. The accused mentioned in the FIR include local political leaders of Muslim League, P.P. Moideen Koya and  Moyeen Haji, NDF activists, Marad mahal committee members and suspected terrorist activists.

The FIR mentions that the accused persons allegedly funded, conspired and executed the riots. The judicial commission appointed to conduct an inquiry into the riots in its reports had raised suspicion about the larger conspiracy behind the violence and  recommended further investigation to be carried out by a central agency. The CBI officials said that all the documents related to the investigation carried out by the Crime Branch were  handed over to the CBI last week.

The court passed the order while considering a public interest litigation filed by Mr  Kolakkadan Moosa Haji in 2012  seeking a CBI probe into the 'conspiracy' behind the attacks. Earlier, the state government had favoured a CBI probe into the incident in which eight persons were hacked to death  on  May 2, 2003.  The special court in Kozhikode  had sentenced 62 of the 63 convicts to life on  January 15, 2009.  There were a total of 139 accused in the case.