By TCN Staff Reporter,
Kasaragod [Kerala]: CBI registered murder case against the then Superintendent of Police, Ram Das Pothan for shooting down a Muslim Youth League (MYL) worker Shafeek at an MYL conference in the district on 15th November 2009.
MYL is the youth wing of Indian Union Muslim League [IUML] and the workers had congregated in the town, to welcome their state leaders. Before the state leaders arrived, some frictions and conflicts arouse and Ram Das Pothan was no late in using his service revolver against the crowd.
There were reports alleging him of not undertaking any of the normal policing procedures of warning the mob nor firing in the air before ordering to shoot at the mob. The witnesses say that he himself used his service revolver against the mob, thus resulting in a bullet being fired at Shafeek.
Shafeek’s father Musthafa Haji had already filed a case in the Kerala High court accusing Pothan of murdering his son. Based on his petition the High court ordered a CBI probe in to the case and asked the government to pay a compensation of five lakh rupees to the victim’s family. The Communist party [LDF] while its reign was a bit reluctant in carrying out the High court orders and formed a commission under Justice Nizar, by which they held themselves back from paying the compensation as well.
As soon as the congress led UDF formed the government with IUML as the major ally, the Nizar commission was withdrawn and CBI was given the responsibility of probing in to the case. With the initial probes being completed CBI have submitted an FIR in the Ernakulum CBI court, registering murder case against Ram Das Pothan. Since years he has been notorious in the state for his biased policing against specific minorities.
Adjacent to these conflicts another MYL worker Asker too was stabbed to death, allegedly by a group of Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP] workers, in the Karantakad region of Kasaragod district. With this case too, demands have been raised to transfer the investigational responsibilities to CBI or similar agencies, as at present the probes seems not well directed.