A CBI court here on Friday sentenced 10 CPI-M workers to a double life term and four others including a former party legislator to five years’ imprisonment in the Periya twin murder case in Kerala. On Saturday last, the CBI court had convicted 14 people and exonerated 10 in the case pertaining to the brutal murders of Kerala Youth Congress workers Kripesh (19) and P.K. Sarath Lal (24) on February 17, 2019, in Periya, Kasaragod district.

However, the families of the victims said they were expecting capital punishment for the accused. Since that has not been given and 10 others were exonerated, they will speak with the Congress leadership and appeal against the verdict. CPI-M workers allegedly killed the victims in a politically motivated attack. According to the court, eight of the accused were directly involved in the twin murders, while six others played indirect roles. The court gave a double-life term to the eight who were directly involved in the cold-blooded murder, while two others who were part of the conspiracy were also given a double-life term. Among the convicted is former MLA and CPI-M district leader K.V. Kunhiraman, accused of forcibly removing the second accused from police custody.

Kunhiraman has been given five years’ imprisonment. Initially investigated by the Crime Branch, the case was handed over to the CBI after the victims’ families filed a plea in the High Court. The CBI concluded that the murders stemmed from a cycle of politically-motivated attacks between CPI-M and Congress workers in the region. At Periya in Kasargod there was a huge gathering of Congress party workers and family members of the two victims at their memorial site. After hearing the verdict, some of the women of the two workers’ families were seen in tears. Leader of Opposition, V.D. Satheesan while talking about the verdict said it was notable that among the accused are a former CPI-M legislator and workers. “All along, the CPI-M leadership and party denied their leader’s and party workers’ role in the brutal crime. Now see, they have been sentenced. This is the way the CPI-M works,” said Satheesan.

K.K. Rema, an independent legislator who won with the Congress-led UDF’s support, whose husband, T.P. Chandrasekharan, was also murdered by CPI-M workers, criticised the party’s attempts to protect the accused. “Just look at the way the CPI-M employed high priced lawyers from Delhi to fight the case and more than Rs 1 crore have been spent to save the guilty,” said Rema. AICC general secretary and Alappuzha Congress Lok Sabha member, K.C. Venugopal, said the verdict brings out the real face of the CPI-M as they engage in annihilating political opponents.

The counsel for the accused said once the papers of the verdict come, they will file an appeal against it. The 10 accused, who have been sentenced to the double life term, will each have to pay a fine of Rs 2 lakh, while the remaining four have to pay a fine of Rs 10,000, and all of this will go to the families of the two victims.

–IANS

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The post 10 Kerala CPI-M Activists Get Double Life Term; Ex-MLA Gets 5 Years’ Jail For Murder Of 2 Cong Workers appeared first on The Commune.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s Political Secretary P Sasi, who faced several allegations from Independent legislator P.V. Anvar – earlier linked to the ruling LDF, on Friday launched a legal battle against him. Sasi filed two criminal defamation cases against Anvar in courts in Thalassery and Kannur. The CPI-M leader has decided to take on Anvar on legal grounds after the legislator failed to reply to his lawyer’s notice sent to him last month.

It was in September that Anvar first attacked Sasi by alleging he, along with (the then) controversial ADGP, Law and Order, M.R.Ajith Kumar, was engaged in nefarious activities, including supporting gold smuggling. Then Anvar accused Sasi of engaging in ‘benami’ deals after the suicide of Kannur Additional District Magistrate Naveen Babu took place last month. Soon after filing the criminal defamation case on Friday, Sasi said Anvar had been engaged in a free-for-all against him. “Since I work in the office of CM Vijayan, Anvar has been engaged in attacking the CM and his family, by levelling baseless allegations against me. There is a mafia behind Anvar and their deeds got stuck after the state government started taking strong action,” he alleged.

Anvar, in September, said that he met both Vijayan and CPI-M state Secretary M.V. Govindan and handed over a detailed letter against the misdeeds of Sasi, but it was dismissed outright by both Vijayan and Govindan. Sasi is a political appointee by the party as he is also a state Committee member of the CPI-M and hails from Kannur, the home town of both Vijayan and Govindan. After being kept out from party posts due to a sexual misconduct case, a decade back, he came back to prominence when he was brought into the powerful state committee of the CPI-M in 2022 and then, appointed to the key post of the Political Secretary to Vijayan. Incidentally, it is the second time that Sasi is holding the post, with his first tenure being during E.K.Nayanar’s term as Chief Minister in 1996.

–IANS

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CPI-M leader and former Kannur district panchayath president PP Divya was questioned by the police for about four hours on Friday, a day after she was arrested in the controversial suicide of Additional District Magistrate Naveen Babu. After the questioning, Divya returned to the jail. Now, she will have to reside in the jail till Tuesday when her bail plea is going to be heard at a Sessions Court in Thalassery.

Divya surrendered before the police and was sent to a jail in Kannur on Thursday after her anticipatory bail plea was rejected. The sequence of events which led to Divya ending up in jail started, when, she despite not being invited, turned up at Naveen Babu’s send-off function on October 14 and made some critical remarks. Naveen Babu committed suicide the very next day (October 15) and following the furore, Divya first resigned as Kannur district panchayath President and was on the run for several days after a case was filed against her on October 17.

Meanwhile, demands are coming from several quarters that the Kannur District Collector Arun Vijayan and a person T.V. Prasanth who said he paid a bribe to Babu to get a sanction for his petrol pump, should also be included as accused, apart from Divya. The wife of Babu, Manjusha and the family are in no mood to relent and have announced they will go to any extent to ensure that they get to know the truth about why Babu had to commit suicide. Congress and BJP have lent her all the support. But what has come as a big surprise is the way the Pathanamthitta district CPI-M committee has been staunchly supporting the family of Babu, while the Kannur district unit of the party is in wait-and-watch mode.

On the other hand, Divya has been getting solid support from her party. CPI-M’s District secretary in Pathanamthitta, K.P. Udayabhanu, said it’s the responsibility of the Kerala government to take appropriate action against the district collector. He also added that the family of Babu has already raised their complaint against the collector. “With regard to action against Divya, it’s an internal matter of the party,” said Udayabhanu.

–IANS

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A day after the Kerala High Court announced taking contempt action against the Chief Secretary and two District Collectors for defying the court order to take possession of six churches embroiled in the Orthodox-Jacobite Church dispute, the Kerala government on Tuesday filed an appeal at the Supreme Court against it.

The state government, in its appeal petition, said that it needs more time to comply with the order.

The Jacobite Church has also approached the apex court, while the Orthodox Church has filed a caveat that the court should not make a decision until they are heard.

Incidentally, on Thursday, the Kerala High Court dismissed appeals filed by the state government and Jacobite Christians challenging a single-judge bench’s order directing District Collectors to take possession of six churches embroiled in the Orthodox-Jacobite Church dispute.

On Friday, the Kerala High Court announced that they had started contempt proceedings against the Chief Secretary and the two District Collectors, under whose purview the six churches fall. They defied the orders of the High Court.

In August, the single-judge bench ordered the District Collectors of Ernakulam and Palakkad to take possession of six disputed churches where the obstruction persisted.

Incidentally, the apex court in its final verdict in 2017, gave the Orthodox faction the right to administer 1,100 churches and parishes under the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and said that there was no ground for the Jacobites to claim any of the churches.

A non-Catholic Christian community in Kerala, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, has two factions — the majority Orthodox, who have their headquarters in Kottayam, and the Jacobites, who consider the Patriarch of Antioch in Beirut (Lebanon) as their supreme leader.

The community first split into Orthodox and Jacobite in 1912, but following a Supreme Court ruling, it came together in Kottayam for a brief period between 1958 and 1970.

Since 1970, they have been at war over control of churches.

After decades of trial, the apex court gave its final verdict in 2017.

Consequently, the Orthodox faction has been taking control over churches now run by the Jacobite faction.

While the Orthodox faction has already taken over a few churches on directions from the High Court after the police were given specific instructions, in some churches, the Jacobite faction has been unrelenting.

In terms of numbers, the Orthodox Church is a much bigger entity than the Jacobite Church.

–IANS

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BJP’s prominent Christian leader in Kerala Anoop Antony Joseph has made serious allegations against the state’s CPI-M-led government, accusing it of siphoning off funds intended for relief operations following the landslide in Wayanad.

He said that the state government has the habit of frequently “misusing funds meant for relief operations”. Joseph said, “Kerala has not yet recovered from the shocking tragedy of the Wayanad landslide, but what is now more painful is the way the CPI-M govt of Kerala misused and embezzled the funds that were meant for relief.” He said, “The reports have very well shown how crores of crores have been misused, which was meant for the relief of the people of Wayanad. It is unimaginable… Rs 75,000 were spent on the funeral of each who has lost their life in Wayanad…Rs 12 crore was spent on the food of the volunteers…”

The BJP leader further said, “Similarly, crores and crores have been misused by the (state) government in the name of relief… Similar things happened during the 2018 floods also… The state government always uses these disasters as an opportunity for corruption and financial gains…” The Kerala government, however, has denied the allegations saying there is no truth in this. It said that the estimates are being misrepresented.

Meanwhile, the Congress has described the estimates which were submitted to the High Court as “unrealistic” saying that it was made by someone who had no clue. “The so-called memorandum submitted to the Centre points out that bodies were interred and a cost has been attributed, while the fact of the matter known to all is that it was done in a plot of land donated by a plantation company. The entire work at that time was done by volunteers of the local legislator. This is not the way a memorandum should be prepared and if it’s given like this, then what should rightfully come also won’t,” said Kerala leader of the opposition V.D. Satheesan.

–IANS

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On May 13th, 2023, the Election Commission of India announced the results for the Karnataka Assembly election, marking a significant moment in the state’s political landscape. While the Congress party emerged as the single largest party, the post-election scenario brought about internal challenges and a power struggle within the party. The battle for the Chief Ministerial position between party state president DK Shiva Kumar and former CM Siddaramaiah created a power struggle that has yet to be resolved.

With the election results unveiled, the Congress party celebrated its position as the leading party, having secured 135 seats in the assembly. This victory placed them at the forefront, though not with an absolute majority. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) followed closely behind with 66 seats, and the Janata Dal (Secular) (JD-S) secured 19 seats, making it the third-largest party in the race.

Apart from seat allocations, analyzing the vote shares provides valuable insights into the support garnered by each party. The Congress party gained a vote share of approximately 42.88%, emerging as the frontrunner in terms of popularity among the electorate. The BJP secured 36% of the total votes, highlighting its significant voter base. The JD(S) obtained a respectable 13.29% vote share, reflecting its influence in certain regions. However, it is worth noting that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) collectively received less than 1% of the total votes, indicating a decline in their popularity.

The final projection by the Election Commission of India in it’s website shows that Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) got only 0.6% vote share, in terms of votes, around 24,000 votes. And the Communist Party of India (CPI) got 0.02% vote share, which is around 8,000 Votes. But even after summing the votes of both the parties, didnt not touch 1/8th of the votes received by NOTA. In this election, the NOTA received almost 2.69 Lakh votes, that is 0.69% vote share.

Instead of introspecting the results, the communists leaders were busy in praising Congress publicly for defeating BJP, which stands at 2nd position with 36% Vote Share and with almost 1.4 Crores votes. But the point to be noted here is, compared to 2018 Election result, the BJP got more than 7 lakh votes this time. In case of CPI and CPI(M), both have lost the significant number of votes and left the vote share almost close to null. In 2018, CPI and CPI-M got 4871 and 81191 votes respectively, which is 0.01% and 0.22% of vote share. It clearly shows Communists parties were loosing the ground. 

(Pradeep G is the State Secretary of BJP Tamil Nadu’s IT-DM Cell.)

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Another grizzly act of rape involving a minor has been reported from the Communist state of Kerala after police on Monday (July 5) arrested yet another member of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) which is the youth wing of the ruling CPI(M).

As per reports, Arjun (22) a worker of the Communist party and resident of the Idukki district, repeatedly sexually abused the girl for three years before raping and killing her.

The body of the minor girl was found hanging in a room at her parents’ quarters. Comrade Arjun who had reportedly been doing a lot of social work in his region and as a volunteer during the pandemic is now under bars for his monstrous act.

A police officer said, “The incident, which occurred on June 30, was reported as an accidental death. We were told that a shawl accidentally got tied around her neck while she was playing. The parents were away at work. However, the postmortem revealed that the girl had been subjected to sexual abuse over a long period, which made police look into the murder angle.”

Quoting the youth, the police officer said, “The girl fell unconscious during the assault and the assailant feared she may have died. Subsequently, he hanged her in the room using her shawl.”

The rape and murder of this minor girl by this communist took place on June 30 when the accused sneaked into the house of the minor. It has also been reported that comrade Arjun later panicked after the incident and spread the rumour of the minor death as accidental.

However, his lies were busted after an autopsy report conclusively proved that the alleged rapist and murder was a longtime tormentor of this minor girl and further investigation led to the arrest of four suspects. 

Recently the Kerala Police booked two CPM leaders PP Baburaj and TP Lijeesh for sexually assaulting and blackmailing a female party worker and more and more instances of sexual abuse and sexual harassment are emerging in the state.

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In another case of sexual harassment perpetrated by the ruling CPI-M in Kerala, two local leaders at Vadakara in Kozhikode district were arrested early morning on Monday (June 28) by the police probing the case of the alleged rape of a female party worker.

The police have taken into custody Baburaj and Lijeesh and have begun questioning them. They will be produced before a local court based on a complaint given by the fellow party worker who has accused the duo of badly harassing her.

The issue of blatant sexual harassment has been a point of contention in the party unit at Vadakara for a while.  When the victim got no support from the party, she had no choice but to approach the local police.

Only when the opposition parties — Congress and the BJP took up the issue, things started to move and now the women’s wing of the CPI-M have also stepped in.

On Sunday (June 27), a medical examination was done on the victim and the two were arrested by the police on Monday. Now that things are out of control, as a face-saving measure the CPI-M stepped in and dismissed both the leaders.

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Violence broke out, post-election on Wednesday (7 April) in the Kannur district of Kerala, after a 22-year-old Muslim League worker Mansur was hacked to death in violence.

The violent incident took place after the conclusion of polling at the Kuthuparamba region of the district and as per the report, at least 10 Left party offices including the CPI(M) Peringathur local committee office, branch committee offices in the town, Aachimukku, Keezhmadam, Kochiyangado and Kadavathur branch committee offices have been vandalised.

Also, a few libraries were burned down allegedly by the Indian Union Muslim League workers during in the Kannur district during Mansur’s funeral procession.

District Collector T V Subhash has called an all-party peace meeting at 11 am on Thursday and Kannur Superintendent of Police Ilango R reportedly told PTI that police resorted to baton charge and used grenades to dismiss the violent crowd in the Kolavellur police station limits.

“Around five-six persons, mostly Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) workers, were taken into custody after some miscreants have vandalised around five-party offices in Chockli and Kolavellur police station limits. A few more were also attacked in other places”, he said.

During the violence that took place between the communists and the Muslims, three police personnel were injured in and a police bus was damaged.

A CPI party official informed PTI that at least five of their offices were burnt down by IUML members. “Even though the police claim that everything was under control, the Muslim League workers are threatening the CPI(M) families,” he added.

Kannur is one of the strongholds of the CPI (M) and has the polls closed in Kerala on Tuesday night, violence broke out in this area between the Left workers and members of the Indian Union Muslim League that led to the death of an IUML worker, while his brother is being treated at a hospital in Kozhikode.

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The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Chhatradhar Mahato in connection with the murder of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) leader Prabir Mahato.

The arrest comes a day after the polling for the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2021.

Prabir Mahato was murdered in 2009.

Chhatradhar Mahato was later produced before the Bankshall Court in Kolkata. He has previously served a 10-year sentence in connection with an abortive bid on the life of then West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in 2008 and is involved in several other cases of bombing and landmine blasts. Mahato is known for his pro-Maoist sympathies.

Meanwhile, elections to the 294-member West Bengal state Assembly are being held in eight phases, starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The first phase of the polls registered a voter turnout of 79.79 per cent. The counting of votes will take place on May 2.

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