BJP leader murder case: CBI gets custody of 9 CPI(M) activists

A court here today granted the CBI custody of nine persons arrested in connection with murder of a BJP worker in Kozhikode in 2012, till January 10.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate court in Ernakulam granted the CBI custody of the accused--activists of the CPI(M)-- when they were produced before it after recording their arrest.
The Thiruvananthapuram unit of the CBI took over the investigation into the killing of Manoj, a BJP leader in Payyoli, last year following a Kerala High Court direction.
Manoj, an autorickshaw driver was attacked by a gang, allegedly comprising some activists of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at Payyoli in February, 2012, in the presence of his wife and children.

He later died at the Government Medical College Hospital.
The nine CPI(M) activists, including a district-level leader of the party, were arrested yesterday by the central agency after interrogating them at its camp office in Kozhikode.

Earlier, the Kozhikode police, which probed the case initially had filed a chargesheet in a trial court there, against 15 persons in connection with the case.
The court then ordered a crime branch probe into it based on a complaint filed by wife and mother of Manoj.
Subsequently, Sajid, a social activist and a friend of Manoj, moved the high court seeking a CBI probe into the case.