By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The Kerala government Wednesday said it would go for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into communal massacres of 2002 and 2003 in which 14 people were killed in a coastal village of the state.
The state cabinet in its meeting held here decided to ask the central government for the CBI probe into the violent incidents that occurred in Kozhikode’s Marad village.
Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said the decision was taken following reports of increased terrorist activities linked with communal riots and “the Marad massacre had incidents of arms and ammunition being seized”.
A report submitted by a judge, the chief minister said, had mentioned that perpetrators had pumped huge money to conduct the massacre.
“So the best possible investigation is a CBI probe,” Achuthanandan told reporters.
Conspiracy, funding sources behind the massacre and amassing of ammunition used in the violence would come under the jurisdiction of the probe.
In the first massacre in 2002, six people were killed and the next year, eight hacked to death. All but one of the 137 accused in the massacre are out on bail.
The A.K. Antony government in 2003 had appointed district judge Thomas P. Joseph to conduct a judicial investigation.
On Feb 20, 2006, Joseph submitted his report to then chief minister Oommen Chandy who did not place it in the assembly on technical grounds.