Shukkoor murder case spectre returns to haunt CPI(M) with CBI court dismissing Jayarajan and Rajesh’s discharge pleas

Abdul Shukkoor, a young leader of the Muslim Student Federation, was murdered at Ariyil in Kannur on February 20, 2012, apparently in a rapid-fire retaliation for an attack on Jayarajan’s convoy the same day

The baleful spectre of the infamous Abdul Shukkoor murder case in 2012 seemed to have come back to haunt the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] on Thursday, with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Kochi emphatically refusing to quash trial proceedings against party veteran P. Jayarajan and former legislator T.V. Rajesh in the high-profile and politically tempestuous crime that rocked north Kerala.

The CBI had named the top leaders as co-conspirators in the public trial and extra-judicial killing of Shukkoor, a young leader of the Muslim Student Federation (MSF), Indian Union Muslim League’s (IUML) student wing, at Ariyil, near Pattuvam, in Kannur district on February 20, ostensibly in rapid-fire retaliation for an attack on Mr. Jayarajan’s convoy the same day.

CPI(M)-IUML standoff

Shukkoor’s murder had triggered a CPI(M)-IUML standoff in Kannur for days after the killing. It remained a sore point between the parties in north Kerala, despite both opposing outfits finding themselves on the same page on a host of smouldering issues, including simultaneous elections, the Gaza conflict, and CAA, among others.

Moreover, Shukkoor’s murder was also one of Congress’s main talking points in the Lok Sabha polls in north Kerala, possibly to preclude the CPI(M) from making any inroads into the overwhelmingly pro-United Democratic Front (UDF) Muslim community, a sizeable electoral bloc in the State.

The verdict has given the Congress-led Opposition another handy whip to scourge the CPI(M) ahead of the Assembly session in October.

The case took a political and emotive turn in 2023 when Shukkoor’s mother opposed the CPI(M) leaders’ discharge applications in the CBI court. 

IUML national general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty told reporters in Kochi that the court has served justice. He said Shukkoor’s murder was the result of a criminal conspiracy and not a spur-of-the-moment crime.

Mr. Kunhalikutty said the CBI had adduced proof of the murder plot in court, including mobile phone communications between the conspirators and executioners, including images of a beleaguered Shukkoor in CPI(M) custody.

‘Took part in killing’

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan claimed that the CBI had testified in court that Mr. Jayarajan and Mr. Rajesh, who hatched the murder plot in the hospital where they got themselves admitted after the alleged attack on their convoy, actually participated in Shukkoor’s killing.

He said the court’s verdict underscored the UDF’s stated position that CPI(M)‘s top leadership routinely used assassination to stifle dissent and deter other parties from democratically vying for political space.

Mr. Satheesan also alleged that the CPI(M) leadership was indebted to their hirelings, as evinced in the liberal parole and VIP facilities extended to convicts in the RMP leader T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case. 

Published - September 19, 2024 08:43 pm IST