Kannur Congress worker murder: 3 more in custody

Even as the Congress party continues to demand a CBI probe into the brutal murder of a Youth Congress worker that took place almost a fortnight back, the police on Saturday said they have taken into custody three more persons in connection with the case.

With this, the number of persons taken into custody in connection with the murder of 30-year-old Shoaib has become five. Two of them were arrested last week.

Superintendent of Police Shiv Vikram on Saturday told the media that the three of them were taken into custody from Veerajpettu, in Karnataka, and the police have started their interrogation.

While the two arrested earlier were Communist Party of India-Marxist workers, the three taken into custody on Saturday are also close to the Left party.

The brutal incident took place when Shoaib along with his friends was at an eatery near Mattanoor in Kannur district on February 12. Four persons in a car hurled bombs and then fatally injured him slashing at him with a sword.

The state Congress leadership has taken up the heinous incident in a big way, with two separate protests going on against the politics of murder being practised by the CPI-M.

While the indefinite protest fast at Kannur by senior Congress leader K. Sudhakaran entered the sixth day, a similar protest is on in the capital city by Youth Congress President Dean Kuriakose.

Sudhakaran told the media on Saturday that it has now come to light that the police is now tapping his telephone and those of a few other leaders and also media persons.

"Since the ongoing police probe will not reveal anything, the case should be handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation," said Sudhakaran.

A group of angry Youth Congress protestors in Thiruvananthapuram, who were able to sneak inside the State Secretariat -- which is out of bounds for protestors, was taken into custody before they could enter the office of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

This murder also has become a much talked about incident among the more than 500 delegates at the ongoing four-day 22nd CPI-M state party conference.

With the assembly session set to begin from Monday, the Congress is expected to raise the issue in a big way and put the ruling CPI-M -led Left government in a tight position.

--IANS

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