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Muslim League leaders ‘conspired’ for Marad massacre: FIR
The Muslim League, a major partner in Kerala’s Congress-led ruling UDF, has so far termed charges against its leaders over the 2003 Marad carnage, in which eight Hindus were massacred, as mere allegations, but it has now been revealed that the Kerala Police’s Crime Branch had initiated a case for criminal conspiracy against two of its top leaders as back as in 2010.
As per reports, the Crime Branch’s FIR registered on September 25, 2010, had named Muslim League’s State secretary MC Mayin Haji and its Beypore area secretary PP Moideen Koya as suspects in crimes that came under Sections 302 (homicide), 120b (criminal conspiracy) and 109 (incitement for violence) of the IPC in the Marad massacre (Marad 2).
Eight Hindus and one Muslim were killed on May 2, 2003 in a nightly attack in Marad fishing village in Kozhikode district. This massacre, which came to be known as Marad 2, was later interpreted as a reaction to the riot that took place in the coastal village in January, 2002 in which five people were killed.
The Crime Branch team that looked into the massacre had submitted the FIR in the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court (5) much earlier but this had allegedly been kept secret so far. It has now been alleged that the UDF Government removed the head of the Crime Branch investigation team recently as he had collected crucial evidences against the two leaders after extensive probe.
Leaders of Islamist Popular Front of India, members of a Marad mosque committee and extremists included as suspects in the FIR, registered on the basis of the findings of the judicial commission that inquired into the carnage, but the only persons referred to by their names are Muslim League leaders Mayin Haji and Moideen Koya, reports say.
The Crime Branch had also found that then Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kozhikode) TK Vinod Kumar had decided to name Mayin Haji as accused in the case immediately after the carnage. As per reports, Haji had told the police that the son of a Muslim killed in the Marad riot of 2002 (Marad 1) had approached him calling for revenge before the 2003 carnage.
Responding to the reports on the FIR which named him and Koya as suspects, Mayin Haji said that the FIR was part of a “political conspiracy” against him and the Muslim League which was being used for “political campaigns”. He said the reports on this were part of a conspiracy being hatched by a newspaper published by the Jama’at-e-Islami and a TV channel.
However, Haji admitted that some people had indeed contacted him after Marad 1 riot to say that they had got indications on the possibility of a second riot in the Marad fishing village, adding that he had informed the authorities about this. “If they had registered the FIR in 2010, why did they not arrest or question me so far?” he asked.
The Government of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who was handling the Home portfolio, had recently transferred Superintendent of Police CM Pradeep Kumar, who was heading the investigation, from the Kozhikode Crime Branch to Thiruvananthapuram as SP with the Kerala State Human Rights Commission, effectively freezing the probe at the crucial juncture.
It is alleged that the Government deliberately transferred the SP to derail the investigation for saving the Muslim league and its leaders. It was the former LDF Government which had instituted the Crime Branch probe on June 30, 2010 after the Centre refused to respond to the the demand for a CBI probe into the conspiracy behind the massacre.
State BJP president V Muraleedharan on Sunday renewed his party’s demand for a CBI probe into the massacre in the context of the revelations about the FIR against Muslim League leaders. “What is surprising is that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and the State Congress leadership are silent even after all these disclosures,” he said.
The Muslim League, a major partner in Kerala’s Congress-led ruling UDF, has so far termed charges against its leaders over the 2003 Marad carnage, in which eight Hindus were massacred, as mere allegations, but it has now been revealed that the Kerala Police’s Crime Branch had initiated a case for criminal conspiracy against two of its top leaders as back as in 2010.
As per reports, the Crime Branch’s FIR registered on September 25, 2010, had named Muslim League’s State secretary MC Mayin Haji and its Beypore area secretary PP Moideen Koya as suspects in crimes that came under Sections 302 (homicide), 120b (criminal conspiracy) and 109 (incitement for violence) of the IPC in the Marad massacre (Marad 2).
Eight Hindus and one Muslim were killed on May 2, 2003 in a nightly attack in Marad fishing village in Kozhikode district. This massacre, which came to be known as Marad 2, was later interpreted as a reaction to the riot that took place in the coastal village in January, 2002 in which five people were killed.
The Crime Branch team that looked into the massacre had submitted the FIR in the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court (5) much earlier but this had allegedly been kept secret so far. It has now been alleged that the UDF Government removed the head of the Crime Branch investigation team recently as he had collected crucial evidences against the two leaders after extensive probe.
Leaders of Islamist Popular Front of India, members of a Marad mosque committee and extremists included as suspects in the FIR, registered on the basis of the findings of the judicial commission that inquired into the carnage, but the only persons referred to by their names are Muslim League leaders Mayin Haji and Moideen Koya, reports say.
The Crime Branch had also found that then Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kozhikode) TK Vinod Kumar had decided to name Mayin Haji as accused in the case immediately after the carnage. As per reports, Haji had told the police that the son of a Muslim killed in the Marad riot of 2002 (Marad 1) had approached him calling for revenge before the 2003 carnage.
Responding to the reports on the FIR which named him and Koya as suspects, Mayin Haji said that the FIR was part of a “political conspiracy” against him and the Muslim League which was being used for “political campaigns”. He said the reports on this were part of a conspiracy being hatched by a newspaper published by the Jama’at-e-Islami and a TV channel.
However, Haji admitted that some people had indeed contacted him after Marad 1 riot to say that they had got indications on the possibility of a second riot in the Marad fishing village, adding that he had informed the authorities about this. “If they had registered the FIR in 2010, why did they not arrest or question me so far?” he asked.
The Government of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who was handling the Home portfolio, had recently transferred Superintendent of Police CM Pradeep Kumar, who was heading the investigation, from the Kozhikode Crime Branch to Thiruvananthapuram as SP with the Kerala State Human Rights Commission, effectively freezing the probe at the crucial juncture.
It is alleged that the Government deliberately transferred the SP to derail the investigation for saving the Muslim league and its leaders. It was the former LDF Government which had instituted the Crime Branch probe on June 30, 2010 after the Centre refused to respond to the the demand for a CBI probe into the conspiracy behind the massacre.
State BJP president V Muraleedharan on Sunday renewed his party’s demand for a CBI probe into the massacre in the context of the revelations about the FIR against Muslim League leaders. “What is surprising is that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and the State Congress leadership are silent even after all these disclosures,” he said.
