Former Chief Minister and Congress leader Oommen Chandy has demanded that the probe into the murder of Youth Congress workers Kripesh and Sarath Lal at Kallyottu in Kasaragod be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Addressing the day-long hunger strike against the murders near the Collectorate in Kasaragod on Wednesday, Mr. Chandy said there was an attempt to protect the conspirators of the murders. He said even the CPI(M) workers did not believe that the party was not involved in the murders. If the CPI(M) had no role in the crime and if the Chief Minister was sincere in his public statements, the LDF government should be hand over the case to the CBI.
Mr. Chandy said the Chief Minister walked away from questions at his press meet on February 19. His sole response was that no party worker would commit such a crime when the elections were round the corner. He had run away from the press meet when a reporter told him that RMP leader T.P. Chandrasekharan had been hacked to death during the time of a byelection, Mr. Chandy said. When the LDF government completed 1,000 days, there were 20 political killings, the Congress leader said adding that the CPI(M) workers were accused in 16 of them.
Mr. Chandy also said that the claim of the CPI(M) leadership that the party was not involved in the murder was hollow in the context of the statement of the wife of Peethambaran, who was arrested in the case, that he would not do such a thing without the party’s knowledge.
Earlier, Mr. Chandy visited the houses of the slain Youth Congress workers at Kallyottu. He said he had no words to comfort them.