CPI-M leader held for Kerala murder

A CPI-M leader in Kerala was arrested here Wednesday after he allegedly admitted that he had former party colleague T P Chandrasekharan murdered for 'personal reasons'.

According to police, K C Ramachandran, the sixth suspect to be arrested in the case, admitted that he had paid Rs 50,000 to the killer gang.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist defended Ramachandran. Acting Kozhikode CPI-M district secretary N Bhaskaran said, 'We do not think he will do such a thing.'

But the dead man's widow, K K Rema, demanded that all the conspirators behind the 4 May killing should be brought to book.

She told reporters here that the murder must have been plotted by the CPI-M.

'Only local leaders of CPI-M have been arrested but that is not enough because the top leaders of the party are behind this and they also should be booked,' said Rema, a bank employee.

'I am happy the way the investigations are going on,' she added.

Chandrasekharan, 51, was murdered in Onchiyam near here while returning home on a motorcycle.

He was a CPI-M leader in the area till 2008. He quit the party and formed the Revolutionary Marxist Party, which unseated the CPI-M in the village council polls in Onchiyam.

In Thirivananthapuram, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the guilty would not be spared.

'None will be spared, irrespective of who [they are] and what their position is,' he said.

Five others arrested a day earlier for their suspected involvement in the murder were presented before a court near here Wednesday.

The judge sent one of them, from the CPI-M, to 14 days judicial custody, while the other four were sent to four days police custody