Revelations made by Akash Thillankeri, the prime accused in the murder of SP Shuhaib, pointing fingers at the role played by local leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the crime have revived calls for a probe by an independent agency into the incident. The CPI(M), whose workers have been arraigned as the accused in the case, was initially open for a probe by an independent agency as demanded by the family of the victim but later backed out. Shuhaib, a 29-year-old Youth Congress leader, was hacked to death in Mattanur, Kannur on February 12, 2018.
Five years ago, after an all-party meeting at Kannur District Collectorate on February 21, 2018, former minister AK Balan had expressed the state government's readiness to hand over the investigation into Shuhaib’s murder to any agency. But Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, while speaking on the floor of the Assembly in March 2018, said his Cabinet colleague had never expressed the government's willingness for a CBI probe.
The Kerala government recently revealed that it spent around Rs 96 lakh on lawyers hired for Shuhaib’s case. This amount was incurred as legal fee paid on appeals against pleas for CBI probe into the case in the High Court and Supreme Court and other expenses including hotel accommodation and flight bookings. The revelations made by Akash Thillankeri, who was a Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) member, in a Facebook post – that has since been deleted – that Shuhaib was killed as per orders of local leaders of CPI(M) in Edayannur has now renewed calls for an investigation by the CBI to bring out the conspiracy angle.
"It was party leaders in Edayannur who made us carry out the murder. If we open our mouths they wouldn't be able to show their faces outside. While those who gave the call were given jobs in cooperative bodies, we have been pushed into poverty and thrown out of the party," said the FB post by Akash. Two cases have been filed against Akash including one on outraging the modesty of a woman after the FB post. The state government has also approached the court to get his bail cancelled.
This wasn’t the first time that Akash came out against the party. In June 2021, Akash wrote a Facebook post warning the DYFI. He said that if the organisation continues the propaganda against him, he will come out in public. He was ousted from the organisation after he was made an accused in the murder case but was active in campaigning for the party during elections. Akash was later made an accused in a gold smuggling case.
Last week, CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan reiterated that there is no need for a CBI probe into the case. His contention was that the party was not initially opposed to it but today the agency is considered to be nothing more than a caged parrot. A CBI probe can never be considered the last word, he said on February 17. The family of Shuhaib and the Congress in Kerala had however been demanding it ever since his death.
Shuhaib's family had approached the Kerala High Court seeking CBI enquiry in 2018 itself. A single bench directed a CBI enquiry but the state government appealed against it, hired top lawyers and obtained a stay from the division bench. The family approached the Supreme Court, where the case is currently pending.
“The next hearing by the Supreme Court is on March 13,” said Sudeep James, district president of Youth Congress in Kannur. According to him, a single bench order which approved a CBI probe had stated that since all the accused are CPI(M) workers, an inquiry by Kerala police will not be sufficient. “The larger conspiracy in the case was never probed despite all accused being CPI(M) workers. The case should have been probed by an officer in the rank of DySP. The recovery of weapons was not done properly. All these reasons show a CBI inquiry would be proper,” he said.