Kerala CM rejects CPI-M`s claim of clean chit in murder case

Oommen Chandy rejected CPI-M state leadership`s claim that court has given a clean chit to the party in the TP Chandrasekheran murder case.

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Wednesday rejected CPI-M state leadership`s claim that court has given a clean chit to the party in the TP Chandrasekheran murder case, saying three Marxist cadres had been found guilty of conspiracy.

A court in Kozhikode acquitted 24 persons and convicted 12 persons, including three CPI-M local functionaries, in the case related to the murder of former CPI(M) leader Chandrasekharan by a gang on May 4, 2012. Chandy said this was the first political murder case in the history of Kerala in which persons behind the murder were also brought before law. "Three party workers from two districts were found guilty for conspiracy in the case," Chandy told reporters here after a Cabinet meeting. He also said that after examining legal points, government would take a decision whether to go for an appeal and handover the case to CBI for a re-probe. He was responding to CPI-M State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan`s statement that court verdict virtually exonerated party leadership from the murder charge. Chandy congratulated the police team which investigated the case and also the prosecution. "This case is a clear message that persons who conspire to murder also would be booked. There is always a conspiracy behind all political murders," he said. Normally, persons behind the murder were not exposed. But Chandrasekheran case was a different and it was government`s victory that persons behind the murder were also exposed, he added.