When we talk about murder politics in Kannur, the very name KT Jayakrishnan evokes an emotional feeling among the nationalists. His murder is symbolic of communist terror in recent times. It was an abhorrent act ever took place in the name of politics so far. On December 1, 1999 at around 10.35am, the Master was taking classfor his Standard VI students in Mokeri East U.P. School in Panoor. Then a group of cold-blooded communist thugs stormed into the classroom and slaughtered him in front of his students.
Jayakrishnan Master an extraordinary organizer and a most respected person among the locals, obviously alarmed the party by his wide popularity, a swayamsevak remembered. “He lost his father when he was studying in standard X. I struggled a lot to bring up my children and give them better education,” Master’s mother, Kausalya, remembered the past. “I used to advise him not to work against communists. But he didn’t care. He hid everything from me including the threats from CPM leaders, because he didn’t want to make me upset,” she added.
After returning from the school he would immediately go out for party work. He was a state vice president of BJYM. “He was very active in politics and I was little aware of all these things. But I know one thing, my son never hurt anybody,” she underscores.
“After joining the school as a teacher, he was more engaged in politics than he was before. His political opponents could not tolerate that. He was planning to get married in March in the next year. But before that, they killed him,” Kausalya said in a numbed voice. “They tried to trap him several times but he managed to escape every time. I came to know all these things only after his death. One of our neighbours was the main conspirator. Later he was elected as Panchayat member. The killers of my son now roam freely around here,” she said.
A local journalist says he was provided with a body guard by the state government due to threats from CPM. The bodyguard suddenly disappeared just before the seven CPM goons entered the classroom. They were shouting slogans and hailing CPM and warned the students not to move. And they stabbed Master several times in front of students less than 11 years old. Before leaving the spot, the assailants left a threat on the black board warning the children not to give any statement against them. The incident created severe psychological problems for many children and had to seek medical treatment.
The case was investigated by Panoor police and the chargesheet had been filed against seven CPM workers. After five years, the Additional Sessions Court awarded the five accused with death sentence. According to a journalist, the party mobilised a fund of more than 2 crore rupees under the banner ‘Fund for Mokeri Comrades’ and filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. It was famous criminal lawyer Ram Jathmalani who appeared for the accused. As a result, the murderers were acquitted by the court. Now the State Government has referred the case to the CBI. But the CBI probe is entangled in some legal problems due to long delay of 15 years.
Though the mother is disappointed, Master’s brother Santhakumar still hopes the murders will be punished.n
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