india

Updated: Jun 15, 2019 16:13 IST

Visuals of a murderous attack on a Marxist rebel in Thalassery in Kannur district has left the CPI (M) embarrassed in Kerala, two days after chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan had described the attack as an isolated incident.

The CCTV visuals show two men hacking C O T Naseer ruthlessly with swords and beating him with iron pipes while a third person tries to run a motorcycle over him. Naseer who miraculously survived despite more than 20 stab wounds and fractures on both legs, later named CPI(M) legislator A N Shamseer as the prime accused but the police are yet to name him in the first information report.

The Opposition claims there were attempts to hush up the case. This was the third attack on Naseer after he left the party in 2016. Though the party denied any role in the attack all arrested three men were either workers or office-bearers of the CPI (M). The police are looking for three more suspects.

The attack on Naseer, who contested the last general elections as an independent candidate from Vatakakra, took place on May 19, four days before the election results were declared.

CPI(M) candidate P Jayarajan, also former district secretary of Kannur who lost badly in the polls, visited him in the hospital. The party had also deputed a two-member panel to probe the incident. The latest incident shows party leaders have least control over marauding cadres.

The issue also figured prominently in the state assembly on Thursday but chief minister Vijayan brushed it aside as an isolated incident. He also said the police had recorded Naseer’s statements thrice and he never mentioned the name of the legislator.

But Naseer, who is recuperating in his home, said the police refused to give him a copy of the statement to him and claimed that the repeatedly took the legislator’s name.

“I worked in the party for many years. There are killer squads and they execute rivals once they get the nod. In my case all arrested are from different areas. Shamseer had personal animosity after I raised corruption charges against him,” said Naseer. He said he will move the High Court if he failed to get justice from the police.

“Due to political pressure officials hands are tied. Politics of violence should end. We need to expose real conspirators,” he said.

Naseer, once a prominent face of the CPI(M) from the minority community, was himself an accused in the attack against former chief minister Oommen Chandy in Kannur in 2015. Later he met Chandy and regretted about his involvement in the attack.