By IANS,
Kochi (Kerala) : The Kerala High Court Tuesday dismissed a bunch of petitions that seek a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into a 2003 massacre of eight people in the coastal village of Marad.
A division bench headed by acting Chief Justice J.B. Koshy said a CBI probe was no longer relevant as 62 people were last month awarded life terms for the violent Marad incident.
It added that, six years after the incident, it is not feasible to have a probe into the conspiracy angle as suggested in the petitions.
Moreover, it noted the CBI was not keen for a part probe into the episode.
Additional Sessions Judge (Special Court) Babu Mathew P. Joseph last month delivered the judgment, sentencing 62 people to life and acquitting 76.
Marad, near Kozhikode, had seen communal tension before the killing of eight fisherfolk on May 2, 2003. Six people were killed there in an attack in 2002.
Following the high court ruling, it remains to be seen what action the central government would take on the Kerala government’s request for a CBI probe into the two massacres.