The Congress on Tuesday welcomed the Kerala High Court judgement upholding a single judge bench’s order for a CBI probe into the killing of two Youth Congress workers allegedly by CPI(M) activists in Kasaragod last year. Hailing the court order dismissing a state government plea against the CBI inquiry, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief Mullappally Ramachandran said the Left “spent lakhs of rupees to save the culprits" but the High Court has decided to handover the case to the central investigating agency.
“The Kerala government spent lakhs and brought in senior advocates to stop the probe into the matter. This was the situation in all other political cases. But this time the High Court has decided to bring in the CBI. We welcome it," Ramachandran told the media here.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S Manikumar, while accepting an interim probe report of the state crime branch,which investigated the case initially, directed the CBI to conduct further inquiry. Observing serious lapses in the police investigation, the High Court had last September handed over the case to the Central agency after dismissing the chargesheet filed by the crime branch.
Sarath Lal and Kripesh were hacked to death on February 17, 2019 in Kasaragod allegedly by CPI(M) workers. “Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan tried all tricks in the book to save the culprits. But the High Court dismissed the state government’s stand which was a setback for them in the Periya case.
What happened to the expensive lawyers brought from Delhi?," Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ramesh Chennithala asked. In its appeal against the single bench order, the government had alleged that the entire findings of the bench were based on surmises and conjunctures, and not supported by any material and it had not considered the material on record including the case diary.
IUML leader M K Muneer, who also spoke to reporters said the court’s decision shows that “whatever happens, justice will be served at the end". The CBI, which re-registered the case on October 23, 2019 following the court order, had accused the state police of not handing over the necessary documents needed for the investigation.
The CBI had mentioned the alleged non-cooperation by the crime branch wing of the Kerala police in the status report of the probe submitted by its investigation officer before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court here.
(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)