The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday, November 5, submitted before the Kerala High Court an interim report on the investigation into the case of the murder of Popular Front of India activist Mohammed Fazal in 2006.  In July this year, the court ordered further investigation into the case and asked the CBI to form a special team for the probe. The court's direction came after considering the revelation by a former RSS worker, Subheesh, that it was the RSS workers behind the murder.

In the report submitted on Friday, the CBI claimed that the allegation against the RSS was “not right”, and backed its initial probe report which indicated the involvement of CPI(M) leaders. The CBI maintained before the court that the revelation made by Subheesh in police custody was a forced one. Subheesh had reportedly told the police while he was in custody that Fazal was murdered by RSS functionaries, including himself. According to a report in The Hindu, Subheesh then retracted the statement, alleging that the police tortured him into making the confession.

30-year-old Mohammed Fazal was hacked to death in Kerala’s Thalassery on October 22, 2006. The case was initially investigated by the State Crime Branch, before it was handed over to the CBI following the direction of the High Court on a writ petition filed by Mariyu, Fazal’s wife.

The CBI had arrested eight people, including Karayi Rajan and Karayi Chandrashekharan, both CPI(M) leaders. The brothers were released on bail one and a half years after they were arrested in connection to the murder case, under the strict bail condition that they must not leave Ernakulam. However, they were recently arraigned.

Kodi Suni, a convict in the case of the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader TP Chandrashekharan, was named the first accused in the Fazal murder case.

The CBI claims that Rajan and Chandrashekharan were the masterminds of the murder, and it was executed by others.