Failing in 8 of 9 communal murder cases, police reopen RSS leader's 16-year-old case

Kasaragod: After failing to secure a single conviction in eight of the nine communal murder cases in Kasaragod since 2008, the Kerala Police have approached and received the court's approval to reopen the investigation into the 2008 murder of RSS leader Adv P Suhas. The Crime Branch sought permission to conduct further investigation 12 years after it submitted the charge sheet and when the trial was set to begin in the first week of November this year.

The investigating officer — State Crime Branch DySP P Madhusoodanan Nair — filed a petition before the Thalassery Sessions Court seeking permission to conduct further investigation into the case.

Adv Suhas, a rising leader of the BJP-RSS, was the third person to be killed in a tit-for-tat communal frenzy that left four persons dead in five days in the summer of 2008. Suhas, the Kasaragod district Vice-President of the RSS's trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), was stabbed to death near his chamber on Kasaragod's Fort Road on April 17, 2008.

Kasaragod town police, investigating the case, arrested six activists of the National Development Front (NDF), the previous avatar of the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI). However, following a court directive, the investigation was transferred to the State Crime Branch. The Crime Branch completed its inquiry and submitted a chargesheet to the court in 2012, and a trial date was set.

However, the Kasaragod Bar Association decided its members would not represent the accused in court. The accused then approached the High Court, which ordered the trial to be shifted to the Thalassery Sessions Court.

DySP Madhusoodan said that the Crime Branch charge sheet mentioned a seventh accused but did not identify him, explaining one of the reasons why he approached the court seeking permission to reopen the investigation.

Special Public Prosecutor P Premarajan alleged that the seventh accused had directly participated in the crime, but the local police and the Crime Branch, which investigated the case from 2008 to 2012, neither identified nor arrested him.  

Another senior police officer, privy to the murder case investigation, said that the charge sheet, as it stood, would have made securing a conviction difficult. When asked to list out the flaws, he mentioned issues with the recovery of the murder weapon but declined to elaborate further, stating that revealing more details could jeopardise the prosecution's case.

DySP Madhusoodanan looked into the charge sheet again after Suhas's mother, Prema, moved the high court and also wrote to the State Police Chief, pointing out the flaws in the investigation.

Kerala Police have a poor track record of securing convictions in communal and political killings. "Whenever NDF is involved, the police are slack in their investigation, allowing the accused to go scot-free," said Adv Premarajan.

Citing an example, he said Hindu Aikya Vedhi leader T Ashwini Kumar (27) from Iritty in Kannur district was hacked to death on March 10, 2005. But accused No. 1 P K Aziz (42), accused No. 2 Nurul Ameen (40), and accused No. 9 Naufal (39) were not arrested though they were in Kerala, said Adv Premarajan, the special prosecutor in that case, too.

They surrendered after nearly six years in 2012, but the police did not take them into custody for questioning them, he said. They got bail soon after.

On November 3, 2024, the Additional Sessions  Court of Ernakulam acquitted all 13 accused and convicted only accused No. 3 M V Marzook (38).

However, P K Aziz served six years in prison in the 2013 Narath arms training case investigated by NIA.

Similarly, in the murder case of N Sunil Kumar, a Hindu Aikya Vedi activist, who was hacked to death at Kilimanoor on May 9, 2006, the police did not arrest two key accused, said Adv Premarajan who was the prosecutor in that case too. The trial in the Vanchiyoor court was stayed after a private complaint was filed in Attingal court seeking the arrest of the main accused, he said. "There is a pattern with the police investigation when NDF activists are involved. In Adv Suhas's case, the accused are NDF activists, and police did not identify or arrest the 7th accused," he said.

Zero-conviction
However, this is not just the case for NDF activists. Police do shoddy work when the accused are from RSS organisations, too.

For example, the communal killings in Kasaragod in April 2008 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.

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

The prosecution could not get a conviction in either of the cases. All eight accused in Sandeep's murder case and all three accused in Sinan's murder case walked free.

Adv Suhas was the third victim. A day after, on April 18, 2008, four BJP-RSS supporters stabbed to death B A Mohammed (56), the president of Bilal Mosque at Adkathbail in Kasaragod town. On August 24, 2024, the Kasaragod Additional Sessions Court - II sentenced all four accused guilty of the murder. That was Kerala Police's first conviction in a communal murder in Kasaragod in a decade and a half.

From the 2008 communal violence, Kasaragod has seen 11 murders with communal overtones. Kerala police and the prosecution have a track record of failing to secure convictions in eight of the nine cases that went to trial.

Apart from Adv Suhas's case, the murder case of SDPI activist Zainul Abid (24) is pending trial. He was hacked to death in front of his father while they were closing their mattress shop on MG Road in Kasaragod on December 22, 2014.

The acquittals
The last big acquittal was 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. Three RSS workers were acquitted by the Kasaragod Sessions Court for lack of evidence.

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 Adv Sreedharan Pillai defended the accused.

On January 24, 2011, Upendran, an auto driver at the Kasaragod KSRTC stand and a Thiruvananthapuram native, was murdered. 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, the sessions court acquitted all six accused. The then DySP Mohanachandran Nair and then inspector Sunil Kumar C K investigated the case.