For past several decades, the state politics of Kerala and West Bengal has been marred with targeted political violence against opposition leaders, especially associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). While politically targeted killing of the BJP, RSS leaders hardly found a mention in the mainstream media coverage, a court in Kerala has delivered a major verdict in the murder of BJP leader Suraj who was killed two decades ago. On Friday (21st March), the Thalassery District Sessions Court in Kerala has found 9 CPI(M) members guilty in BJP leader’s killing. Strikingly, one of the CPI(M) member held guilty in the murder case is Manoraj, who is the brother of a close aide of Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan.
Case details of Suraj murder case
The brutal murder took place on August 7, 2005, at Muzhappilangad, a Communist party-dominated village in Thalassery near Kannur.
One of the nine accused, Manoraj, is the brother of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s press secretary P.M. Manoj.
In all, there were 12 accused, two of the accused passed away during the trial, while on Friday one accused was acquitted.
The nine convicts nursed a grudge against Suraj, who had left the CPI(M) in 2004 due to a difference of opinion and joined the BJP.
Suraj eked out a living by driving a three-wheeler. One day a group of people got onto his autorickshaw under the guise of undertaking a trip, and soon after he was attacked from behind as he was driving the vehicle.
He survived the attack after being hospitalised for weeks and was bedridden for months.
However, he was again attacked on the morning of August 7, 2005, by a gang of almost a dozen people. Just before attacking him with knives and swords, the gang burst a country bomb to create terror in the area and make people run from the spot. After ensuring that Suraj had died, they escaped from the spot.
It was only after the mother of the then 32-year-old Suraj approached the Kerala High Court that a special public prosecutor was appointed for the case. “ Justice is served to Suraj after 20 years, ” said the lawyer who fought for Suraj’s family.
Incidentally one of the accused in this murder case is T.K. Rejeesh, who is also an accused in the now infamous T.P. Chandrasekheran murder case.
The widow of the former CPI(M) hugely popular leader Chandrasekheran, K.K. Rema, is a first-time legislator after she won the 2021 Assembly polls from the Badagara Assembly constituency in Kozhikode district.
