Shuhaib murder: CPI(M) rules out CBI probe despite new revelations

Akash Thillankeri, the prime accused in the murder of Youth Congress worker SP Shuhaib, recently revealed in a Facebook post that he committed the crime at the behest of the CPI(M).

Now the disclosure has renewed calls for an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to bring out the conspiracy angle.

The CPI(M) that was initially open to the probe as demanded by the victim’s family, later backed out.

After an all-party meeting at Kannur District Collectorate on February 21, 2018, former minister AK Balan expressed the state government's readiness to hand over the investigation into Shuhaib’s murder to any agency.

However, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, while speaking on the floor of the Assembly in March 2018, said his Cabinet colleague had never expressed the government's willingness for a CBI probe.

CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan had asserted that there was no need for a CBI probe in to the case. ‘The CBI is not the last word. Moreover, the agency is now like a caged parrot, so there is no need for a probe by it’, Govindan said on February 17.

Shuhaib, a 29-year-old Youth Congress leader, was hacked to death in Mattanur, Kannur on February 12, 2018. His family had approached the Kerala High Court demanding a CBI probe ever since his death.

The Congress too has been urging the Kerala government for the same.

The Kerala government recently revealed that it spent around Rs 96 lakh on lawyers hired for Shuhaib’s case. This amount was incurred as the legal fee paid on appeals against pleas for CBI probe into the case in the High Court and Supreme Court and other expenses including hotel accommodation and flight bookings.

The social media post by Akash, a Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) member has since been deleted.

"It was party leaders in Edayannur who made us carry out the murder. If we open our mouths they wouldn't be able to show their faces outside. While those who gave the call were given jobs in cooperative bodies, we have been pushed into poverty and thrown out of the party," said the FB post by Akash.

Two cases have been filed against Akash including one on outraging the modesty of a woman after the FB post. The state government has also approached the court to get his bail cancelled.

Akash had earlier come out against the party in June 2021 through his Facebook post warning the DYFI. He said that if the organisation continues the propaganda against him, he will come out in public.

He was ousted from the organisation after he was made an accused in the murder case but was active in campaigning for the party during elections. Akash was later made an accused in a gold smuggling case.

A single bench directed a CBI inquiry but the state government appealed against it, hired top lawyers and obtained a stay from the division bench. The family approached the Supreme Court, where the case is currently pending.

“The next hearing by the Supreme Court is on March 13,” said Sudeep James, district president of the Youth Congress in Kannur.

According to him, a single bench order which approved a CBI probe had stated that since all the accused are CPI(M) workers, an inquiry by Kerala police will not be sufficient.

“The larger conspiracy in the case was never probed despite all accused being CPI(M) workers. The case should have been probed by an officer in the rank of DySP. The recovery of weapons was not done properly. All these reasons show a CBI inquiry would be proper,” he said.