Kasaragod: A sessions court in Kasaragod on Saturday, August 24, found four BJP-RSS supporters guilty of murdering a mosque committee president during the communal violence of April 2008, when four persons were killed in five days.

Kasaragod Additional Sessions Court - II judge Priya K found Santhosh Naik (37) of Kudlu village, K Sivaprasad (41) of Adkathbail village, Ajithkumar K (36) of Kudlu village, and K G Kishorkumar (40) guilty of the murder of C M Mohammed Kunhi (56), president of Bilal Mosque at Adkathbail in Kasaragod town. Under section 302 of the IPC, they could either be sentenced to death or imprisoned for life.

Mohammed Kunhi was the fourth person to be killed in the tit-for-tat communal frenzy of 2008, said Adv CK Sreedharan, ace criminal lawyer and Special Public prosecutor in the case. "This is the first conviction in a communal murder case in Kasaragod in more than a decade and a half," he told Onmanorama over the phone from Thalassery court.

When the judge asked the accused if they had anything to say on the quantum of punishment, the third accused Ajithkumar alias Ajju said he was a minor during the crime. According to the court document, he was 20 years old. "The court asked if he had told the judge that he was minor during the trial or when he was examined by the judge under Section 313 of the CrPC. The accused replied in negative," said Adv Sreedharan. 

The court then asked Ajithkumar if he had any documentary evidence to prove he was a minor at the time of the crime. Judge Priya was set to award the sentences in the afternoon. Still, after Ajithkumar raised doubts about his age, the sentencing was delayed to August 29, according to Adv Sreedharan's junior, Adv Pradeep Kumar, who was in court.

In the initial years of the case, the accused were represented by veteran BJP leader P S Sreedharan Pillai. After he became the Governor of Goa, his junior Adv Joseph from Kozhikode and Adv P Murali from Kasaragod defended the four accused.

The case was investigated by P Kasaragod Additional Superintendent of Police P Balakrishnan Nair, who was then an inspector and Vellarikundu Station House Officer.

Narrating the incident, Adv Sreedharan said around noon on April 18, a Friday, Bilal Mosque president C A Mohammed was going for the prayers through Gudde Temple Road when the four accused waylaid him. "Two of them held his arms and the other two stabbed him," said Adv Sreedharan. He died on the spot. Mohammed's son Shihab who was walking a few steps behind him saw his father being killed, said the special public prosecutor. "Shihab and another pedestrian who saw the crime were the prosecution's eyewitnesses. Their statements helped clinch the conviction," said Adv Sreedharan.

He said Mohammed's murder was a revenge killing. A day before, on April 17, some Muslim extremists stabbed to death P Suhas, an advocate and trade union leader of the RSS, in Kasaragod, he said. The trial is still underway at the Sessions Court in Thalassery.

The killings started with the murder of B Sandeep (24), a BJP-RSS worker. On April 14, 2008, a Vishu Monday, a group of BJP supporters got down from their car to urinate near the New Bus Stand area in Kasaragod. Someone objected to that saying there was a mosque nearby, which led to an altercation and Sandeep was stabbed. He died on the way to the hospital.

The BJP called for a hartal the following day on April 15, and some Muslim youths were attacked at Karanthakad, a pocket borough of the BJP-RSS in Kasaragod town. In quick retaliation, BJP workers Krishna Prasad and Chandrahasa Acharya were stabbed at Mogral, 8km away on the same national highway. No one died in the incidents.

On April 16, 2008, Mohammed Sinan, a teenager on a motorcycle was stabbed to death at Anebagilu, another BJP pocket borough.

Three BJP-RSS workers arrested for Sinan's murder were acquitted by the Kasaragod Sessions Court on September 18, 2017. The accused were successfully defended by Adv Sreedharan Pillai. 

The court was pulled by the police for the shoddy investigation. Back in 2008, CPM leader V S Achuthanandan was the Chief Minister and the late CPM leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan was the Home Minister.

To be sure, all eight accused in Sandeep's murder case were also acquitted by the Sessions Court for lack of evidence on June 24, 2020.

From the 2008 communal violence, Kasaragod has seen 11 murders with communal overtones. Kasaragod police and the prosecution have a track record of failing to secure convictions in eight of the 11 cases,  with all accused walking free. C A Mohammed's conviction on Saturday, August 24, is their only win. Adv Suhas's case is still pending.

On December 21, 2008, DYFI leader Abdul Sattar (32) was stabbed to death. All the three accused were acquitted for lack of evidence.

On January 9, 2011, Rishad, a textile shop salesperson, of Battompara was stabbed to death at Choori. On October 21, 2013, Sessions judge E V Rajan acquitted all seven accused in the case. The special public prosecutor was Adv C K Sreedharan and the accused were defended by Adv Sreedharan Pillai.

On January 24, 2011, Upendran, an auto driver at the Kasaragod KSRTC stand and a Thiruvananthapuram native was murdered. Police said the culprits took him to an isolated place by hiring his autorickshaw and then hacked him to death. On September 29, 2018, the Kasaragod Session Court acquitted all eight accused.

On November 15, 2009, Youth League worker Muhammed Azharuddin (21) was stabbed to death near a hospital in Kasaragod. The police and prosecution even got the crime scene wrong, listing two different locations as the place of occurrence. On December 17, 2012, additional sessions court judge E V Rajan acquitted all five accused as the prosecution also failed to produce the murder weapon. In Azharuddin's case, Adv C K Sreedharan appeared as the defence lawyer.

On July 7, 2013, Sabith (18) a textile shop worker and resident of Meepuguri was stabbed to death. On May 16, 2019, all six accused were acquitted by the sessions court. The case was investigated by the then DySP Mohanachandran Nair and the then inspector Sunil Kumar CK.

On December 22, 2014, SDPI activist Zainul Abid (24) was hacked to death in front of his father while they were closing their mattress shop on MG Road in Kasaragod The then Kasaragod DySP T P Ranjith arrested 12 persons in connection with the case. Of them, police said Varun Kumar, Anil Kumar, and Hareesh committed the murder and the other helped them escape. Just like in the murder case of C A Mohammed, the accused in Zainul Abid's case were also in their twenties at the time of the crime. Zainul Abid's trial case is going on.

The last was the acquittal in the sensational murder case of Mohammed Riyas Moulavi (34), a muezzin and madrasa teacher in Kasaragod on the intervening night of March 20 and 21, 2017. The then District Police Chief A Srinivas arrested three BJP-RSS workers immediately and called it a hate crime. Police had said that the three men, who did not personally know Moulavi, knocked on his room on the mosque premises, and stabbed him to death.

Seven years later, in March this year, the Kasaragod Sessions Court acquitted the three accused, saying the prosecution failed to prove motive. 

With so many acquittals in communal cases, the conviction in the murder case of C A Mohammed is something to cheer about, said Adv Sreedharan. "I called up the investigating officer Balakrishnan Nair and congratulated him," he said.
But the police have silently buried the other cases with not even the mandatory review of the roles of the investigating officers.