New Delhi/Kerala : Bharatiya Janata Party leaders from Kerala, led by state party chief V. Muraleedharan, met union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and expressed concern over the killing of RSS leader K.T. Manoj in Kannur last week.
The delegation included Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh members.
Muraleedharan told IANS over phone that they raised two things before the union minister.
“We told him that with the Kerala Police recommending a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probe into Manoj’s murder and registering the case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the NIA (National Investigation Agency) can look into the case,” he said.
Muraleedharan said as per rule, if a case is registered under the UAPA by a state police, the state government has to pass on all case details to the central governmnet that will in turn ask the NIA to make a preliminary probe into the case to ascertain if it should take up the investigation in toto.
He added: “We have also asked him to see if the CBI can probe the second Marad case (of 2003 in the coastal village of Marad near Kozhikode in which eight people were killed) as the Kerala Police then had suspected involvement of terrorists in the case.”
The Kerala High Court in 2009 dismissed a bunch of petitions seeking a CBI probe into the case.
Muraleedharan said the minister told the delegation that their demands would be looked into.
Rajnath Singh is arriving in the state later this month to take part in the birthday celebrations of Mata Amritanandamayi and is likely to visit Kannur.
Meanwhile, informed police sources said Kerala Police probing the Manoj case have found likely involvement of grassroots CPI-M leaders from Kannur in the murder.
The probe team Monday recorded statements of Pramod, who is currently recuperating at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital. During the attack on Manoj, he escaped with injuries.
Pramod has said he can identify the killer gang, numbering seven.
A few grassroots leaders of the CPI-M in Kannur have been served notices to appear before the probe team.
Manoj was one of the persons accused of making an unsuccessful bid on the life of Kannur CPI-M district secretary P. Jayarajan in 1999.