Chandrasekharan murder: Centre says no to Kerala government request for CBI probe

NEW DELHI: Centre has turned down Kerala government's request to hand over to CBI the probe into the conspiracy angle behind the sensational murder of TP Chandrasekharan in the state -- a case which saw three CPI-M leaders being sentenced to life by a special court.

In a letter to Congress MP Mullappally Ramachandran, Minister of State for PMO, Jitendra Singh, said, "The main case relating to murder of Chandrasekharan has already ended in conviction after thorough investigation by Kerala Police and no significant outcome may be achieved by further investigation by CBI."

Mullappally, who has been pressing for a CBI probe into the matter, slammed the Centre's decision and termed it "unfortunate". He alleged that the Centre's decision would "encourage the real brains behind the political murders in north Kerala to do such heinous crime".

Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala had said that the the state government's decision to seek a CBI probe was based on recommendations of the Special Investigation Team which probed the petition of the slain leader's wife in which she alleged that senior CPI-M leaders were involved in the conspiracy leading to her husband's murder.

The Centre, meanwhile, has also expressed its "inability" to probe the murder of Yuvamorcha leader Jayakrishnan Master, saying "the accused persons have been convicted by court and further investigation into this 14 year old case by CBI has not been found feasible due to its vintage status".

Singh, who is also the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, said, "This department regrets its inability to accede to the request from the government of Kerala".

Chandrasekharan's murder in May 2012 evoked much political heat in the state as he was a rebel CPI-M leader who floated a parallel Left outfit called Revolutionary Marxist Party on his home turf of Onchiyam in north Kerala.

A special court had sentenced 11 persons, three of them local CPI-M functionaries, to life imprisonment in the case.

The slain leader's wife, Rema, had alleged that CPI-M bigwigs were involved in the conspiracy to murder Chandrasekharan. However, CPI(M) has maintained that ordering a fresh probe would be an illegal and politically-motivated step.