Kannur (Kerala):
In a breakthrough in the politically sensitive TP Chandrasekharan murder case, police have taken into custody the kingpin of the killer gang and two others, who were suspected to have hacked to death the Marxist rebel and Revolutionary Marxist Party leader last month.
According to police, Kodi Suni, who led the team that carried out the murder, 'Keermani' Manoj and Shafi were tracked down and captured from a remote area near Irutty in Kannur district last on Wednesday.
Acting on clues obtained from mobile phone calls, the police team set out to the hill-locked hamlet and caught hold of the suspects from a hut where they had been staying for the past few days. Three of their local accomplices were also taken into custody, police said.
The investigators had been on the look-out for Suni and the two others as it was suspected that they led the hit-squad that brutally murdered Mr Chandrasekharan on May 4 at Vallikkad near his native Onjiyam village in Kozhikode district.
Once a prominent local leader of the CPI(M), Mr Chandrasekharan was expelled from the party a few years back after he questioned the leadership over ideological and organisational issues.
He later floated the RMP, a platform of CPI(M) dissidents which challenged the supremacy of the party in its traditional fortress.
Besides the three members of the gang, several local CPI(M) activists have been arrested in connection with the case as it was suspected that the murder was the result of a conspiracy hatched by local party bosses.
The CPI(M) leadership, however, refuted the charge that the party has any role in the murder and alleged political bias in the investigation.