THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday rejected in the Assembly the UDF demand for a CBI probe into the murder of Youth Congress leader S. P. Shuhaib in Kannur. The Assembly witnessed unruly scenes during the opening day of the session over it with UDF legislators blocking the Speaker’s view with a banner and trying to climb his dais. Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan suspended the Question Hour, rushed through the proceedings and adjourned the House for the day as protests continued.
Replying to an adjournment motion notice, Mr Vijayan said, “the present investigation is going ahead effectively. Already the key accused are held. Hence there is no question of a CBI probe. The demand of the family is a natural reaction.” Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala drew his attention to law minister A. K. Balan's statement that the government was open to any probe and alleged that the government feared the CBI probe unravelling the conspiracy.
"The police team had not yet looked into the conspiracy angle or recovered the weapons of the killers," he said.
He said it also warranted invoking Section 15 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. But the CM said there were instances of UAPA provisions weakening cases. He also maintained that he had no information of Kannur district police chief complaining of leaking out their moves. Congress MLA Sunny Joseph, who presented the notice, said that the nexus of the key accused Akash Tillankery with CPM leaders including Mr Vijayan and P. Jayarajan was evident from his selfies with them.
“Not only those who executed the brutal murder but those who ordered it should be booked. They were cutting Mr Shuhaib like firewood,” he said. He also attacked the CM for referring to a criminal case pending against Shuhaib while giving his reply, but remaining silent on criminal cases including murder and murder attempt against Akash. Referring to statistics, the CM said the number of political violence and murders in the state, especially in Kannur, had slightly come down.
While there were 15 killings in 2016, it was five in 2017. In Kannur, it was seven in 2016 and two in 2017. The House also witnessed him and Mr Chennithala countering each other listing out names of the victims. Mr Vijayan alleged Congress leader K. Sudhakaran’s direct involvement in many political murders in Kannur.
UNRULY SCENES RIGHT FROM BEGINNING
The Opposition members came to the House wearing black badges and holding placards and a banner blaming the government for political murders. As soon as the sitting began at 8.30 a.m., Opposition leader wanted to raise Shuhaib murder issue. But the speaker did not allow him to speak, maintaining that such matters could not be raised during the Question Hour.
Provoked by this, the opposition MLAs trooped into the well, raising slogans. They also raised a banner blocking the view of the speaker. As the UDF did not relent to his repeated requests, the speaker suspended the question-hour. Later when the House convened at 9.30 a.m., Mr Sreeramakrishnan said that blocking the view of the speaker was unfortunate and wanted the MLAs to maintain decorum. However, the opposition was in no mood to scale down their demonstration. Some opposition MLAs including Anil Akkara, V. P. Sajeendran, Shafi Parambil, Anvar Sadath, Roji M. John and Hibi Eden even tried to climb the Speaker’s dais.
