Kerala governor demands action taken report on Kannur violence

KANNUR/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala governor P Sathasivam on Wednesday sought an action taken report from chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on the twin political murders that took place in Kannur and Mahe.

It's the second time in the past six months that the governor has sought an action taken report from the chief minister in connection with political murders, involving the BJP and the CPM.

According to sources, the governor asked for the action taken report in a letter sent to Vijayan. Not long ago, the governor himself had come under crude criticism from the BJP state leaders for his alleged failure in making 'proper interventions' to hold the state government responsible for political violence. The governor is expected to brief the Centre about the ground situation in the state, especially since the entire country has been fast slipping into general election mood.

"The governor's meeting is supposed to take place in Delhi in June first week. The governor, being the representative of the Centre, would have to explain the law and order situation in the state," sources said.

Police from Kerala and Tamil Nadu have decided to launch independent investigations with mutual cooperation into the murders that rocked the region. CPM leader Babu Kannippoyil was killed in Mahe, which falls under Puducherry administration while BJP-RSS worker Shamej UC was hacked to death in the neighbouring New Mahe, in Kerala.

Kerala DGP Loknath Behera and Puducherry DGP Sunil Kumar Goutham visited the areas separately on Wednesday. Later, interacting with the reporters, Behera said Kerala police will constitute a separate team and conduct the investigation. However, the investigators would be cooperating with the Puducherry police, as the killings happened in a gap of a few minutes in the neighbouring places of Mahe and New Mahe. Babu's murder would be investigated by a team under senior superintendent of police Apoorva Gupta, said Goutham. As of now, the probe into the Shamej's murder would be led by Thalassery circle inspector K E Premachandran, under the supervision of the district police chief.

Kannur district police chief Siva Vikram G said there were a couple of eyewitnesses in the murder of Shamej, who was hacked to death at Peringadi near Mahe Kalagramam, in New Mahe police limits of Kannur on the night of May 7, minutes after Babu's murder.

"We have been making fast progress in the case and at this stage of enquiry we would not be able to divulge any further details," he said, adding that efforts were on to analyse some CCTV footage to get some lead. Police also said Shamej was killed by six people and efforts were on to identify them. Babu was murdered by a 10-member gang but four people were directly involved in it and police suspect they were outsiders.

Meanwhile, the police have registered a case against 500 people in connection with the violence that rocked different places of New Mahe and Thalassery in connection with the funeral of Shamej. Palloor police in Mahe have also registered a similar case against 50 people at Palloor. A BJP office and a police vehicle were set on fire during the funeral procession of Babu.

The CPM has approached the Puducherry DGP with a complaint that the police did not provide protection to Babu though there was threat to his life.

Though the police in Mahe and Kannur claimed that all efforts were on to ensure peace in the region, tension has been prevailing in sensitive areas and police have been deployed. Kannur district collector Mir Muhammed Ali has called for a bilateral peace meeting on Thursday.