A DYFI worker who is the fifth accused in the murder of an IUML worker in Panoor, Kannur on election day, surrendered before the court on Friday. KP Suhail, a local DYFI leader from Kannur surrendered before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court in Thalassery on Friday evening. The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) is the youth wing of the CPI(M).
Suhail is treasurer of the DYFI Peringalam Area Committee and the fifth accused in the murder of Mansur, an Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) worker from the Panoor region. Mansur was killed on the night of April 6 after he had stepped out of his house. He and his brother Muhsin were attacked by a group of men who hurled bombs at them, killing Mansur.
Prior to surrendering before the court, Suhail had posted on Facebook that he is innocent and that he would never kill Mansur, who was like a sibling to him. He also alleged that he was being falsely named in the case and that he was targeted for 10 years as he had left the IUML to join the CPI(M).
“Do you still believe I am cruel enough to kill (him)? I considered his father Mustafa as equal to my father and this is over and above our relationship as supporters of the same party. I have a bigger relationship with Mansur and Mustafa which is greater than the party,” Suhail writes in his post.
The accused has now been remanded to judicial custody. On the day of Mansur’s murder, Suhail had allegedly put up a Facebook post which read, “Jackals of Muslim league who attacked the comrade would remember this day for years.” This led the IUML to allege that Mansur’s was a pre-planned attack.
The Crime Branch has identified 11 of the 24 accused in the Mansur case. Shinos, Ratheesh, Sangeeth, Sreerag, Suhail, Sajeev, Aswath, Sasi, Sumesh, Jabir and Nasar are the accused listed in the First Information Report (FIR).
While Shinos, a local CPI(M) leader was the first to be taken into custody by the police, the Crime Branch has now nabbed seven others - Sreerag, Aswanth, Vipin, Sangeeth, Bijesh, Suhail, Aneesh in the case. Sreerag is fourth accused in the case while Aswath is seventh accused. Aneesh has been identified as a local CPI(M) worker.
One more accused in the case, Ratheesh Koloth, was found dead in the Valayam police station limits in Kozhikode.
The court has allowed custody of all the eight accused to the police for a period of seven days. The accused persons will be handed over to the investigating officials on Monday. All eight accused including Suhail, who is the alleged mastermind, will undergo further interrogation and help with evidence collection.