The CBI on Thursday arraigned senior CPI (M) leader P Jayarajan as an accused in the murder case of RSS leader E Manoj.

The investigating agency submitted a report in the sessions court in Thalassery listing Jayarajan as the 25th accused in the case. CBI has slapped section 43 (D) of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act against the CPI (M) leader.

Manoj, a district leader of RSS in Kannur, was hacked to death in September, 2014. He had been an accused in a case pertaining to RSS attack on Jayarajan in 1999.

Last week, Jayarajan had moved an anticipatory bail plea, but the court rejected it after the CBI said that he was not made an accused in the case.

CBI had earlier submitted a charge sheet against CPI (M) activists who had allegedly executed the crime. CBI had found that the prime accused Vikraman had conspired with Jayarajan. Vikraman, a CPI (M) activist, had contacted Jayarajan via mobile phone before and after the attack on the RSS leader. Vikram had managed to escape in a vehicle owned by Jayarajan in his capacity as the Kannur district secretary.

This is the second murder case in which Jayarajan is an accused. He had been arrested in connection with the murder of Indian Union Muslim League leader A Shukoor in 2012. Jayarajan, charged under section 118 of IPC in the Shukkoor murder case, is currently on bail. Last week, the high court had vacated a stay on the trial into that case.

CPI (M) polit buro member Pinarayi Vijayan said the CBI has made Jayarajan an accused in the case as per RSS direction. “The CBI could not find any evidence against Jayarajan. He is always accompanied by a gunman, a police constable. How, a person would engage in a conspiracy in the presence of police. The party would fight the case, legally and politically,” said Vijayan.

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