The district sessions court in Thalassery on Tuesday has postponed the hearing on the bail application by CPI (M) leader P Jayarajan who the CBI believes has information on the murder of an RSS leader in 2015.

According to initial reports, the court will hear his plea on January 18.

Although Jayarajan is not named as the accused in the Elamthottathil Manoj murder case, CBI officials had asked him to come in for questioning for the second time this year on Tuesday. He had ignored the first notice citing personal reasons on January 6.

On Monday, he approached the district sessions court in Thalassery seeking anticipatory bail. He has always accused the BJP of carrying out a political vendetta against him in this case.

RSS leader Elamthottathil Manoj was murdered on September 1, 2014 at Ukkas Motta in East Kathiroor in Kannur district.

 In 1999 Manoj had allegedly assaulted Jayarajan for political reasons. Because of this, the

CBI believes the murder was an act of revenge and that the CPI (M) leader might have been informed about the planning of the incident.    

Jayarajan's lawyer K Viswan told the Times of India on Monday that it is a politically motivated move to arrest him to implement the political agenda of the BJP.

CBI officials told the newspaper that they expect the CPI (M) leader to appear for questioning and said his bail plea had nothing to do with interrogation.

Viswan had said that the CPI (M) leader will decide whether to appear for questioning after the court takes a decision on his bail.

This is not the first time that he has applied for bail in the case.

In June, 2015 he had approached court to obtain anticipatory bail but his plea was rejected by the court, saying that he need not seek bail as he was not listed as an accused in the chargesheet.