Speaking to Organiser, former Deputy Superintendent of Police K Radhakrishnan has said that the CPM would kill him on his open revelations against the party leadership in the controversial Fazal murder case of Thalassery in which he was the investigating officer. Excerpts from an exclusive interview:
You have gone on record that the CPM leadership is hell-bent on finishing you off, what prompted you to make such a statement?
The CPM leadership really means it as I had landed upon certain clues which had led to implicating the local CPM leaders Karayai Rajan and Karayi Chandrashekaran in the controversial Fazal murder case in Thalasssery of 2006 in which a Popular Front worker Fazal was hacked to death by CPM men in their stronghold a the wee hours of the morning. I was then the DCRB DySP on November 9, 2016 and CPM leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was the home minister. I was appointed as the investigating officer by the then DIG of Police, Ananthakrishnan who was my superior officer. I came close to nail the CPM leaders and then was shunted out of the team at the insistence of the Home Minister. Several incidents that had taken place in my life after that has prompted me that the CPM is bent on finishing me off and everyone who knows the style of working of CPM will deny this.
Can you explain to us as to how you were reaching towards the CPM leaders in the course of the investigation as the culprits in Fazal murder?
Fazal murder took place in Madapeedika which is near Kodiyari in Thalassery. Kodiyeri is the place of the then home minister and present CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and I took charge of the investigation from the first day onwards following my appointment as the special investigating officer in the case. I could find that there were tampering of evidence in the site and in the first day itself, CPM conducted a protest rally in Thalassery in which the then area secretary of the party, Karayi Rajan declared that RSS was behind the murder and listed the name of four RSS workers as the killers. I immediately took them into custody and the investigators spread into several teams and corroborated the statements given by those in custody and found that they were not lying and were innocent. On the third day they were let off and then when we started investigations based on the mobile tower locations, we could zero in that the CPM leaders Karayi Rajan and Karayi Chandrashekharan were talking with each other in the wee hours of the morning and we could find that they were speaking to several CPM men during that period and we took into custody, Kodi Suni, presently languishing in jail following the brutal murder of estranged CPM leader T.P.Chandrashekaran. When the CPM knew that Suni was under our custody, they acted and the case was transferred to the Crime branch wherein the case was put in cold storage.
What was the approach by the state home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan during the course of the investigation and did he intervene?
Of course he did intervene in the investigation. The first time he came to Kannur government guest house and called upon me and asked me to file the charge sheet in a week. I could sense that he was not experienced in the criminal investigation procedure and that filing a charge sheet in a week in a controversial murder case is not possible was not known to him. He then came to the Thalassery PWD rest house where our camp office was functioning and told me that if there are CPM workers in the case then he should be intimated. Thirdly he called upon me after we took Kodi Suni into custody and told me that the case is handed over to the Crime branch and that I should hand over the files to the Crime branch team. Rishi Raj Singh IPS was the IG of Crime Branch then and he was hostile to me at the start but after studying the case file, he left the scene without taking any further investigation. However the Crime branch team which took over the case did not move ahead and after Fazal’s widow filed a case in high court and on the intervention of the Honorable high court, the case was handed over to the CBI who arrested both Karayi Rajan,the CPM then Thalassery area secretary and Karayi Chandrashekaran , former Municipal councilor and powerful leader of the party. Both these leaders were behind the killer squads of the CPI-M in Kannur districts and as such are dear to the party hierarchy.
What was the reaction of the party after you was shunted out?
The party did not react immediately but later there was a brutal reaction. I was working as Narcotic control DySP in Kannur when during a national level hartal, I was deputed for law and order in Taliparamaba and it was a tense situation and I did not have had food the whole day. Later my friend Rajesh called me for dinner at his house near Taliparamba and as all the hotels were closed that day, myself and my driver went to his house to have food at night. When I had gone to the toilet, I could hear angry voices outside and on coming out found that Rajesh was being beaten up by a mob, and I plunged into the scene only to be hit brutally from all corners, I was hit by iron rods and lost consciousness. Later I came to know that the Police team led by the then Kannur Superintendent of Police Mathew Poly Karp IPS came personally to take me out of that place, The CPM mob including the Taliparamba local secretary of the party, Balakrishnan tried to prevent the police vehicle in taking me out to the hospital and the police had to charge to make their way. I had sustained grievous injuries and had to be treated for more than a year to start walking on my legs again. I learnt that they had charged me with immoral traffic in it and this is the style of the CPM always across the state to tarnish the image of those who do something which is not in favourable to them. I was suspended and later, I fought the court case and came back to service. It was found out that the case of immoral trafficking was false and the then DGP T.P.Senkumar has written that in his note absolving me of all charges.
Why do you feel that you are being targeted even now?
I was conferred with IPS on November 9,2016 my superannuation was in April 2017. After CPM led LDF came to power in Kerala, I was put under suspension on a false case related to an excise matter while I was serving on deputation as Joint Secretary, Excise department. I had to retire from service without joining back and even after I got IPS conferred, the government did not give me any posting and after retirement, there is no subsistence allowance also which is given to government employees under suspension from service. This is owing to the vengeance on the part of the CPM and they want me to starve without money and die. There are also indications that I may be killed by the killer squads deputed by the CPM and that’s the reason why I am telling all these in the open. CPM Kottayam district secretary has already started calling upon the toddy contractors of the district asking them to speak out against me that I had accepted bribe while serving as Joint Commissioner, Excise on deputation. There are also chances that I may be foisted with charges of keeping narcotic substances. I have also learnt that the CPM is trying to give complaints against me throughout the state using their party machinery and this is all owing to the fact that I had conducted an impartial investigation into a controversial murder case and was instrumental in bringing out the truth that the CPM was behind Fazal murder.
These are all serious allegations and are you not moving the court for getting you reinstated and also to get police protection to you?
My service case is already under the consideration of the honourable high court of Kerala and as far as police protection is concerned, I have not yet decided to approach the honourable court for that.
