TRIVANDRUM: Another political killing has returned to haunt Kerala’s ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) with new revelations by former suspects.

On Feb.12, 2012, a gang of masked men killed autorickshaw driver CT Manoj, 40, a trade union activist of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in Payyoli in the northern Kozhikode district.

They called him out while resting at home and attacked him before his mother, wife and children. The local police soon arrested six “fake” culprits suggested by the local leaders to ensure the prosecution fails to incriminate them.

However, last year the Kerala High Court, on a plea by his Muslim friend Sajid, asked the Central Bureau of Investigation to take over the probe and last week they arrested six CPM men including a district committee member T. Chandu, 73.

Now the previous “culprits” accuse their party leadership of hatching a conspiracy with rivals to incriminate them and save the actual killers and conspirators.

All these men say they are deep in debt after fighting the case in the court and the party dumped them as they were loyalists of former chief minister VS Achuthanandan, identified as arch rival of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in CPM.

Vadakayil Biju, then a member of the CPM local committee whom the local police had arraigned as the third defendant, said they were victims of the factionalism in the party.

“I feel the CBI investigation is in the right direction,” he said. “The police officers had told us that they knew we had no role in it but they were left with no other option.” “We were told that we would be out on bail in three months and hush up the case paying money to the family of the victim,” another “accused,” told a television channel without revealing his identity.

“We surrendered as instructed by comrade Chandu. I’m not revealing my name as we fear for our life,” he said.

The leaders convinced them to surrender saying they were on the list of suspects that the BJP had given to the police. But later they understood that there’s no such a list.

“That was a conspiracy to save the killers and conspirators,” he said.