The Thalassery Principal Sessions Court has sentenced eight CPM workers to life imprisonment and another to three years in prison for the murder of Muzhappilangad Sooraj in 2005, who left CPM to join the BJP. The court delivered its verdict on March 24.
Among those sentenced to life imprisonment are Manoraj Narayanan, brother of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s Press Secretary P M Manoj, and T K Rajeesh, an accused in the TP Chandrasekharan murder case. The eleventh accused, Pradeep, was given a three-year sentence.
The murder took place on 7 August 2005. Sooraj was killed for leaving the CPM and joining the BJP. Five of the accused were found guilty of murder, while conspiracy charges were proven against four others. Sooraj had been attacked six months prior to his murder. His leg was seriously injured, leaving him bedridden for about six months. When he finally recovered and came out after treatment, he was killed. He was 32 years old at the time.
Initially, a case was registered against ten accused. However, two more were added based on the statement of T K Rajeesh, an accused in the T P Chandrasekharan murder.
Manoraj Narayanan was one of the two additional accused. The first accused, P K Shamsudheen, and the twelfth accused, T P Raveendran, had died earlier, reducing the number of accused back to ten.
The court found that the second to sixth accused were directly involved in the murder, whereas the seventh to ninth accused participated in the conspiracy. The eleventh accused, Pradeep, was given a three-year sentence.
Recently, CPM Kannur district secretary M V Jayarajan claimed that the accused found guilty by the court were innocent. He stated that all, including T K Rajeesh, had been charge-sheeted deliberately. He added that if innocent party cadres were punished, the party would file an appeal. The CPM maintains that all the accused are innocent.
T P Chandrasekharan was a rebel CPM leader from Onchiyam, Kozhikode district. He was killed on May 4, 2012. All the accused and those found guilty in connection with his murder are CPM cadres.
Since 1969, hundreds of RSS workers have been killed in CPM attacks in Kannur district alone, with Vadakkal Ramakrishnan being the first victim on 28 April 1969.
Kannur Model : Killing Fields of Kannur #OrganiserArchives https://t.co/a6NOBVnPun via @eOrganiser
— Organiser Weekly (@eOrganiser) February 26, 2021
RSS and BJP workers, along with Congress leaders, have alleged that the current Kerala Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, was involved in that murder.
In Kerala, which ever political clash we witness, CPM is a common factor on one side. It could be CPM vs Congress, CPM vs RSS, CPM vs BJP, CPM vs Kerala Congress, CPM vs (even) CPI and sometimes (one group of) CPM vs (another group of) CPM. It proves the CPM’s intolerance towards other ideological groups and their ideologies. RSS and affiliated organisations are the worst affected ideological groups in this violent mess lashed out by the CPM.
The history of this ‘murder politics’ started during the 1940s itself, well before undivided Communist party could taste the power in Kerala political scenario.
The persistent delay in justice in political murders exposes the CPM’s deep-rooted influence over the system, which conveniently shields its cadre when in power. Every time the Left assumes control, the so-called investigation turns into a theatrical farce, reducing justice to mere optics. The party’s violent legacy is not confined to its tenure alone—CPM operatives execute their attacks even under Congress-led UDF rule. However, with Kerala’s predictable power rotation between the UDF and the CPM-led LDF, the latter inevitably returns to power and exploits its position to manipulate cases, weaken prosecutions, and protect its foot soldiers. This cycle of political cover-ups has been a grim reality in Kerala for decades, making a mockery of the justice system and emboldening the perpetrators of political violence.
