Kochi: The Kerala government's attempt to stall the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the murder of two Congress workers in Kasaragod - Kripesh and Sharath Lal - failed with the Kerala High Court's Division Bench dismissing its plea on Tuesday.
The dismissal means that the Division Bench headed by Chief Justice S Manikumar has ratified the Single Bench's order in September 2019 to transfer the case to CBI.
The development is a huge body blow to the CPM-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, which hired senior advocates from the Supreme Court to present its case.
The bench, however, accepted an interim probe report of the state Crime Branch, which investigated the case initially and directed the CBI to conduct further inquiry.
Observing serious lapses in the police investigation, the High Court in last September handed over the case to the Central agency after dismissing the chargesheet filed by the Crime Branch.
Congress workers Kripesh, 22, and Sharathlal, 24, were murdered allegedly by CPM workers in February 2019 while returning home after attending an event in their locality.
While Kripesh died at the District Hospital in Kasaragod, Sharathlal succumbed to his injuries on his way to a hospital in Mangaluru in Karnataka.
Chronology of court proceedings
A Single Bench of the Kerala High Court had ordered CBI probe into the murder on September 30, 2019.
The order came after hearing a plea by the family of the deceased, who alleged that top leaders of the CPM had conspired to kill Kripesh and Sharathlal.
The Single Bench had even quashed the charge sheet filed by the police.
The CBI, which re-registered the case on October 23, 2019 following the court order, had accused the state police of not handing over the necessary documents needed for the investigation.
In its appeal against the Single Bench order, the state government had alleged that the entire findings of the bench were based on surmises and conjunctures, and not supported by any material and it had not considered the material on record including the case diary.
The Kerala government argued that CBI probe was not required and filed a petition with the Division Bench, which was eventually dismissed on Tuesday.
However, the court did not ratify the Single Bench's quashing of the police charge sheet. This means that it will remain valid for the time being.
Advocate T Asaf Ali, counsel for the petitioners, said the court ordered CBI probe as it found lapses in the investigation by Kerala Police. "CBI will find loopholes in the previous inquiry," he said.
Chennithala slams Pinarayi
Immediately after the verdict was out, Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. "Pinarayi should be ashamed because his government spent huge amount of money and hired senior advocates to stall CBI probe into the case," he said.
Congress leader Rajmohan Unnithan, who rode on public sentiments against the murder to win Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituency in 2019, said the verdict proved that truth would prevail at any cost. "This is huge a moral victory," he said.
Family of Kripesh and Sharathlal said they were indebted to the court for ordering the CBI probe.
"CPM has already scuttled the investigation because they control police. CBI inquiry will find real culprits," said father of Kripesh.
Hailing the court order dismissing a state government plea against the CBI inquiry, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief Mullappally Ramachandran said the Left "spent lakhs of rupees to save the culprits" but the High Court has decided to handover the case to the central investigating agency.
"The Kerala government spent lakhs and brought in senior advocates to stop the probe into the matter. This was the situation in all other political cases. But this time the High Court has decided to bring in the CBI. We welcome it," Ramachandran told the media.
IUML leader M K Muneer, who also spoke to reporters said the court's decision shows that "whatever happens, justice will be served at the end".
