A retired IPS officer in Kerala has once again alleged that he has been facing threats and torture from the CPI(M) since 2006. The officer's interview to TNIE in which he said that the party has targeted him for allegedly refusing to give in to pressure to frame RSS workers in the murder of Popular Front of India activist, Mohammed Fazal has created a stir.
Speaking to TNM, the officer, K Radhakrishnan alleged that he has been threatened even after his retirement in April 2021. Radhakrishan, who was conferred with IPS, retired as the commandant of Kerala Armed Police's fifth battalion.
Radhakrishnan, who was the Thalassery Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) in 2006 had investigated the murder of Fazal, which happened in Saidarpalli in Thalassery, Kannur district. He had helped narrow down on the accused from CPI(M). “I was in-charge of Fazal murder case. One day, when CPI(M) held a protest rally, Karayi Rajan, the then local area committee secretary, said in public that four RSS workers were behind the murder of Fazal. That day itself I took four of them in custody and interrogated them. I took down all details on where they were when the murder happened,” Radhakrishnan said. It took three days for the officers to verify all the phone calls and all other statements. “I realised then that those four were not the culprits," he added.
Radhakrishnan alleged that in 2006, the then Home Minister, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, had summoned him to Payyambalam Guest House in Kannur and warned to inform the minister prior to any action against party workers.
“10 days after being appointed in-charge, I was removed from the investigation. In 2006, I was brutally assaulted by some CPI (M) workers and my spine was injured," he alleged. Then, in 2011, the CBI took over the case.
On November 5, 2021, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a report in the Kerala High Court and it validated Radhakrishnan's findings. The CBI arrested eight CPI(M) leaders including Karayi Rajan, Karayi Chandrasekharan and a few others. The CBI reiterated its findings to the high court which had sought further probe into the case in July this year, after considering an allegation by a former RSS worker, Subheesh. Subheesh retracted his statement that Fazal was murdered by RSS workers and alleged he was coerced to say so by the police.
Radhakrishnan alleged that he was attacked twice after this. "The latest incident occurred in 2018 near Venjaramoodu in Thiruvananthapuram. Some people came in two cars, blocked us and hit us from behind. Our car was sandwiched in between their two cars," he said.
In 2015, when he was the Assistant Commissioner in the Excise Department in Thiruvananthapuram, Radhakrishnan was named in a case where he was accused of being connected to a drug mafia. Based on this case, he was suspended for four-and-a-half years. "I got a favourable order from the Supreme Court and was reinstated," he said.
Radhakrishnan told TNM that just eight months prior to his retirement in April, he was reinstated to his job, following a Supreme Court order, after four and half years of suspension. But his retirement allowances and pension have been held by the government as the case is still on at the Central Administrative Tribunal.
A report by Manoj Viswanathan in The New Indian Express states that Radhakrishnan had to work as a security guard in a private firm to make ends meet.
"I met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during my suspension period as well as after my retirement. When I met him last time, I explained my situation. I was not able to provide for my family," he said, adding that he did not receive a favourable response.
The report filed by CBI in November 2021 in High Court also recommended that action be taken against three Kerala police officers for trying to establish that it was not CPI (M) but RSS workers who committed the murder. The accused officers are DySP Sadanandan, DySP Prince Abraham and Circle Inspector Suresh Babu.
CPI(M) leaders have not reacted to the allegations yet. This copy will be updated if TNM gets a reaction.