The identification parade of CPI(M) workers Akash Thillankery and Rijin Raj, arrested in connection with the murder of Youth Congress worker S.P. Shuhaib, conducted in the Special Sub Jail here on Friday yielded positive results with the witnesses identifying the arrested.
The witnesses, including Shuhaib’s friends Noushad and Riyaz, who had been injured while trying to protect the slain Youth Congress worker during the late night attack on February 12, identified Akash and Rijin Raj, according to police officers close to the investigation. The identification parade was conducted in the presence of the Judicial First Class Magistrate.
“The test identification conducted on Friday has come out positive,” a police officer involved in the investigation said. The police got the information that the witnesses had identified the arrested as the ones involved in the attack, he added.
The identification of the arrested by the witnesses is a morale booster for the investigators as they were at the receiving end of the allegation by the Congress that the arrested were ‘dummy’ accused produced to save the real accused. The investigators are also confident that the remaining accused would be arrested in a couple of days.
“The remaining accused are on the run, but we are confident that we will get them in a couple of days,” District Police Chief Shiva Vikram G. told The Hindu when contacted. Informing that the investigation team was able to zero in on the remaining accused, he said that there was good progress in the probe.
The special team has identified almost all the eight accused who were directly involved in the murder, including five who were involved in the actual killing and three involved in planning. Investigating officials confided that they were also looking into the larger picture of the murder, including those who had assisted the assailants. “Based on our analysis, we believe that the number of the accused could be more,” an officer said.
The positive results of the test identification of the accused is viewed as a development that would embarrass the Opposition leadership who had alleged that the police arrested proxy accused. The indefinite fast by Congress leader K. Sudhakaran had been launched initially with the demand that the police arrest the real accused.
