The Kerala High Court on Tuesday, May 21 quashed proceedings against Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K Sudhakaran in connection with an alleged attempt-to-murder case involving Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader EP Jayarajan in 1995.
According to Jayarajan, the convener of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, the incident took place on April 12, 1995 when he was returning after attending a party meeting in Chandigarh. He was travelling by train through Andhra Pradesh and two people fired at him and injured him. Jayarajan, who was returning to Kerala from Chandigarh in Punjab, had alleged that it was at the behest of Sudhakaran that a revolver was purchased and a group of people was sent to murder him.
Following this incident, a First Information Report (FIR) has been registered in Kerala as well as Andhra Pradesh. However, Sudhakaran was not named as the accused in the Andhra Pradesh FIR.
The case was handled at a lower court in Thiruvananthapuram and in 2016 it ruled that Sudhakaran face trial. But Sudhakaran approached the High Court to quash the case and acquit him.
Considering the case court said, "In this case, I have already found that there is a legal bar in proceeding against the petitioners herein, in view of the fact that the FIR based on which the entire prosecution case is built, amounts to a second FIR in respect of the very same transactions covered by the FIR and final report in Crime No. 14/1995 of Chirala Railway Police Station. Hence the invocation of the Revisional Powers of this Court is justified," stated the court.
Reacting to the judgement, Jayarajan said he would request the Kerala government to appeal to the Supreme Court. "The real target was Pinarayi Vijayan, but on that day, he did not take the train and it was me who was travelling. I am also seeking legal advice if I can also approach the apex court. I will see if the evidence which we gave was enough and if it was due to the lack of it, the case was dismissed. At the time of the incident, the Congress was ruling at the Centre and in Andhra Pradesh, and hence the probe had its deficiencies," said Jayarajan.
(With inputs from IANS)