On January 24, 2011, 46-year-old Saseendran, then Company Secretary with the Malabar Cements Private Limited in Kerala, was found dead inside his house in the state’s Kuridikadu in Palakkad, along with his sons Vivek (10) and Vyas (8). Speaking to the media after the tragic deaths, his family alleged that the three of them were murdered in retaliation for Saseendran’s objection to corruption going on within the company and pointed to ‘illegal transactions’ of raw materials at Malabar Cements, that led to a loss of over Rs 400 crore.
It has been 10 years and the allegation of corruption and the case regarding the suspicious circumstances behind the three deaths are still pending in courts, without the families getting any justice. Dr Sanal Kumar, the younger brother of Saseendran, alleged that the accused in the corruption cases were plotting to thwart the charges against them, thereby trying to create an impression that there was no connection with the corruption and the death of Saseendran and his two children.
“Since it is alleged that the murder of Saseendran and his two children is a result of the corruption that happened at Malabar Cements Limited, they are trying to obliterate the corruption cases, thereby trying to establish that there is no credence to the allegation of murder,” alleged Sanal Kumar in an interview to TNM.
Sanal recalls that the family passed through an immense ordeal after his death. “There were moves from the part of the police to categorise it as a suicide due to family issues after the three were found dead inside their house. Similar attempts were made by some local news channels,” Sanal said.
“An employee of the company informed some of our relatives by calling them within one hour of his death, saying that it was a death by suicide, as a result of family problems,” he added.
Sanal Kumar alleged that except AK Balan, no state leader of the CPI(M) visited their house and that ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) cadres never participated in the functionings of the action council constituted to find the truth that led to the death of Saseendran and his two children. He further alleged that the CPI(M) leadership had instructed its cadre to not participate in the action council, and that then Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan was also constrained to intervene in the issue despite being personally interested in the case.
Sanal Kumar said, “Though VS tried to visit our house, the party didn’t give him the permission for doing so. He was able to give us moral support. Among the Congress leaders, VM Sudheeran gave his support from the beginning and till this date. Some local leaders of the Congress party participated in the action council meetings.”
“However none among the other state-level leaders of the Congress visited our house or extended open support. Late Minister TM Jacob visited the house and said that he will give some files in connection with the case,” he added.
Sanal Kumar alleged that VM Radhakrishnan, a contractor with Malabar Cements and the prime accused in the case, had strong connections with CPI(M) leadership in the state and this influenced the stand of the party. Sanal said that they met then Chief Minister Oomen Chandy and he allegedly said that it is due to the pressure of the IAS lobby that the case was not handed over to the CBI.
Memorandum
In a memorandum given to S Manikumar, the Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court on January 8, Sanal Kumar alleged, “Saseendran’s family are still fearing that the above mentioned case files may be again misplaced or looted from the HC store room with higher bureaucratic level involvements. That has happened on two occasions previously in the Malabar Cements Limited corruption cases.”
In the memorandum, he alleged that the request for an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was previously scuttled with the bureaucratic support and the same tactics may be used for scuttling the Saseendran murder case too.
In the memorandum he alleged that, “No actions were taken against police officers Pushkaran and Kumaran, who destroyed evidence by allowing several people to see the bodies of Saseendran and his two children hanging immediately after arriving at his residence and also compelled Saseendran’s wife Teena and brother V Raveendran to sign a document claiming that he died by suicide due to family problems after killing his two children.”
It further said that no chargesheets were framed against former Malabar Cements Managing Director Sundaramoorthy and Saseendran’s Secretary Suryanarayanan, who were alleged to be the masterminds behind the looting of some files from his office cabin, that could have proved the corruption charges. The memorandum alleged that memos were given to Saseendran to submit his resignation letter, without giving three months notice as per company norms.
The memorandum also raised a serious allegation that, “Saseendran’s family received the information that the former investigative officer is a native of the same village as prime accused VM Radhakrishnan and that he is also a distant relative within the same community. This is why a proper investigation was not done into the murder.”
A series of mysterious deaths followed Saseendran’s death. A witness in the case, Satheendra Kumar, died under mysterious circumstances after being mowed down by a private bus at Ukkadam bus stand in Coimbatore. The driver of the bus was later found dead when the police intensified their investigation into Satheendra Kumar’s death. Saseendran’s wife Teena also died under mysterious circumstances in 2018.
The memorandum alleges that the investigating officer in Satheendra Kumar’s death case allegedly attempted to kill himself, under pressure. It said that the next targets may be them. Meanwhile, Joy Kaitharath, the petitioner in the Malabar Cements corruption cases to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had earlier alleged that there were moves to sabotage the trial of the various corruption cases connected with the company.