Kerala govt in a spot over CBI probe on Kasargod double murder

The Kerala government faced yet another embarrassment over the murder of two Youth Congress activists at Kasargod last year as the Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected Kerala government's appeal against CBI probe ordered by Kerala High Court.

The Left Front government's objections to the CBI probe are politically significant as the accused in the case include CPM local leaders. The opposition parties had alleged that the state government spent around Rs 85 lakh from the state exchequer for hiring senior lawyers for fighting against the plea of the parents of the deceased for CBI probe in the case.

Kripesh and Sarathlal, Youth Congress workers of Periya, about 20 km away from Kasargod town, were killed by a gang on February 17, 2019. The opposition Congress had highlighted the incident during the Lok Sabha election campaign to accuse the CPM of promoting political killings. With the local body polls in the state scheduled for this month, the opposition Congress would be highlighting the case again to attack the CPM-led Left front.

The Kerala police concluded that personal rivalry led to the murder and filed a chargesheet against 14 persons, including local CPM activists. But the parents of the deceased approached court seeking a CBI probe alleging that the police investigation was not fair.

However, the Left front government opposed this saying that the police investigation was fair. The government even locked horns with the CBI by refusing to hand over the case diary maintaining that the case was pending before the court.

Parents of the deceased told reporters that they have lost faith in the state government as it did not have any sympathy towards the families of the deceased.