Senior CPI(M) leaders Karayi Rajan and Karayi Chandrasekharan, who were released on bail in the Fazal murder case, received a huge reception at Thalassery when they arrived there on Friday.
The two, arraigned as accused in the murder of Popular Front of India (PFI) activist, Muhammad Fazal, in 2012, were arrested but released a year-and-a-half later with a strict bail condition that they should not leave the limits of Ernakulam district.
The High Court has now relaxed their bail condition, making it possible for them to head home.
They two leaders were received by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) district secretary M.V. Jayarajan.
Interestingly, they arrived on the same day when the CBI’s investigation report was submitted in the special court in Kochi. The CBI rejected the allegation that the RSS was behind the murder of Fazal and confirmed the first charge-sheet that accused Karayi Rajan and Chandrasekharan as the masterminds behind the murder and Kodi Sunni and his gang as the perpetrators of the crime.
Mr. Jayarajan said that CBI’s report was unfortunate. Six innocent persons had been imprisoned for a long time, and a reinvestigation should be carried out to prove their innocence, he said.
Fazal, a newspaper vendor, was killed on October 22, 2006, near a mosque in Thalassery. It was alleged that Fazal, a CPI(M) activist, was killed in revenge after he left the party and joined the NDF.
But later, an RSS activist, Subhash, had said that the CPI(M) was not involved in the case and that Fazal was killed by four RSS workers, including himself.
However, the CBI charged Rajan and Chandrasekharan with conspiracy in the case.
The appeared before the Ernakulam Magistrate Court on June 22, 2012.
They have been staying in Ernakulam on bail since then.
During their stay, Rajan became Kannur district panchayat president and Chandrasekharan became Thalassery Municipal Chairman. Unable to return home, the two had to resign from the posts.
