CBI probe into Kasargod killings upheld by HC

The Kerala government on Tuesday received a set back with the division bench of the high court upholding single bench order to transfer the case pertaining to murder of two young Congress workers in Kasargod to the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) .

The state government had tried to stall the CBI probe and had even come in for criticism for bringing in prominent lawyers from the Supreme Court to fight the case.

Congress workers Kripesh, 22, and Sharathlal , 24, were murdered allegedly by CPM workers in February 2019 while they were returning home after attending a programme.

The single bench of Kerala High Court had ordered a CBI probe into the murder on September 30, 2019. The Kerala government appealed against the order in the division bench contending that CBI investigation was not needed and the crime branch was probing the matter.

Congress MLA Shafi Parambil had stated in Kerala Assembly that the government had spent `88 lakh from state exchequer till March 2020 to engage top lawyers from Supreme Court to block the CBI probe.

According to him, the court had felt that the accused might go scot free and hence it had recommended CBI probe. Why is the government desperate to derail the probe when it says thousand times that CPM has no role in the murder, he asked.

The murder had led to huge public anger which reflected in CPM losing Kasargod Lok Sabha seat to Congress after six consecutive wins in a row over a period of 22 years.

Reacting to the court verdict, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said the Chief Minister should be ashamed since his government had spent huge amounts of money and hired top lawyers of Supreme Court to stall the CBI probe.

Rajmohan Unnithan, who won from Kasargod constituency in the last Lok Sabha polls, said the verdict had proved that truth would prevail. He said the verdict was a big moral victory.

The LDF leadership, however, said that the verdict was not a setback to the government.