T.P. Chandrasekharan

T P Chandrashekaran
Founder Revolutionary Marxist Party
Personal details
Born	23 July 1961 Onchiyam, Calicut, India.
Died	4 May 2012
Political party	Revolutionary Marxist Party (Marxist)
Spouse(s)	K. K. Rema
Children	Abhinand

T.P Chandrasekharan (2 July 1960 – 4 May 2012) was a local leader of a breakaway group of Communist Party of India (Marxist) in village Onchiyam in Kozhikode district in the Indian state of Kerala, who posthumously shot to national prominence after he was hacked to death on 4 May 2012. Chandrasekharan in 2009 had left the CPI(M) to form a splinter communist party called Revolutionary Marxist Party, and led his newly formed party to moderate success in local polls. Against this background his murder became a political cause celebre and CPI(M)'s local organization is widely blamed as the perpetrator.^[1][2][3]

Political life

TP at the age of 18 worked as CPI(M) branch secretary in Nellacery West Branch. At the time of emergency period Chandrasekharan was the Unit Secretary of SFI in Madappally High School. He also worked as the Central committee member of the Students' Federation of India (SFI). Later he was appointed District Secretary of DYFI Kozhikode.

Chandrasekharan was a follower of V S Achuthanandan while working with the CPI(M). Chandrasekharan left the mainstream socialist party CPI(M) in 2008 and worked on forming out a new political party under the name Revolutionary Marxist Party. In the 2009 local body, he led his newly formed Revolutionary Marxist Party to victory at his home panchayat in Onchiam and nearby villages.

Personal life

T.P Chandrasekharan is survived by his wife, Rema, and his son, Abhinand (Nandu).

Chandrasekharan with his Son Nandu in 2011

Death

According to police, 51-year-old Chandrasekharan was attacked by assailants on 4 May 2012, who came by a car while he was riding a motorcycle alone while returning after participating in a wedding. Country-made bombs were hurled at him and when he fell off the motorcycle, he was hacked to death with sharp weapons mainly focusing his face.According to the postmortem reprt, he received 51 ante-mortem injuries. His face was badly disfigured due to high number of hacks on the face and subsequently was not identifiable to any locals and nobody attended Chandrashekar for an approximate 30 minutes after the incident. The body was left in pool of blood on the road for more than half an hour after which he was taken to the hospital by the police. A special police team has been formed to investigate the murder.

All the accused arrested so far are the leaders and supporters of Communist Party of India (Marxist), a national political party. It includes an area secretary, a prominent position in CPI (M) organizational hierarchy, more than two area committee members and a few local committee members. Another accused who is also an area committee member is reported to be missing once his involvement in the assassination is published in the media. TP Chandrasekharan who was an active member left this party in 2009 and formed a new party named Revolutionary Marxist Party which attracted a considerable number of people from the former group. This is believed to be the reason behind his elimination. There were six intelligence reports submitted warning that there will be an attempt on TP Chandrasekharan's life before his murder.^[4] The case is under consideration of Marad Special Court at Eranhipalam.

Aftermath

At least 30 houses were attacked and two dozen vehicles burnt in north Kerala on Saturday after news of the incident.^[5] T P C murder was mainstream news for a month on the Kerala media and has brought out significant tremors in the CPI-M party of Kerala.^[6] V. S. Achuthanandan in a clear signal that he is at the end of his tether send a strong worded letter of disapproval of current party stance and its leaders. VS served the politburo the following virtual ultimatum: immediately make changes in the state leadership and constitute an ad hoc committee, or else allow him to relinquish his position as leader of the opposition in the state assembly. Such a major move may prove disastrous to the party which enjoys popular support of Keralites, has played a very major role in shaping Kerala society entirely different from the rest of India.^[7] Chandrashekaran's death, subsequent investigation events and connected political upheaval dominated the front page news and headlines across the entire Kerala media spectrum for a continuous 16 days after his murder, while he was not so quite well known earlier in Kerala.

In midst of the state wide upheaval against CPI M, M.M.Mani the Idukki district secretary made a dramatic disclosure of organised homicides against political enemies of the party, that had been conducted in past. His fiery speech on the murders organised in numbers and details of the execution further deteriorated the image of the party. A re-investigation into these murders has been sanctioned by kerala police.

The murder of Chandrashekaran and the Mani disclosure is believed to be the reasons for key failure of the Party in Neyyatinkara by-election, where the CPIM lost the sitting seat.

Arrests

The prime suspect of the murder T. K Rajeesh was arrested in Mumbai by Kerala police on 9 June 2012. More than 50, including local leaders of Communist Party of India (Marxist) have been detained for interrogation by the investigating team. By 10 July 2012 all of the assassination group members who had a direct involvement in the murder was arrested by the Kerala Police. After extensive and detailed investigation coupled with the delays usual in Indian court procedures, the court concluded on 22 January 2014 that twelve persons accused were guilty of the murder. The rest were set free due to lack of evidence. 12 were held guilty of T.P. Chandrasekharan murder. Three CPI(M) leaders among convicted The Special Additional Sessions Court (Marad cases) at Eranhipalam here on Wednesday convicted 12 accused, including three leaders of the Communist Party of India ( Marxist) [CPI(M)], in connection with the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T.P. Chandrasekharan at Onchiyam on 4 May 2012.

Pronouncing the verdict, Judge R. Narayana Pisharadi found M.C. Anoop (1st accused), Manoj Kumar aka Kirmani Manoj (2nd accused), N.K. Sunil Kumar aka Kodi Suni (3rd accused), T.K. Rajeesh (4th accused), K.K. Mohammed Shafi (5th accused), Annan Shijith (6th accused), K. Shinoj (7th accused), K.C. Ramachandran (8th accused), member of the Kunnummakkara local committee Manojan aka Trouser Manojan (11th accused), former branch secretary of Kadanganpoyil of the CPI(M) P.K. Kunhanandan (13th accused), member of the Panur area committee of the CPI(M) P.V. Rafeeque (18th accused), and M.K. Pradeepan aka Lambu (31st accused) guilty of the crime.

However, the court acquitted 24 persons, including P. Mohanan (14th accused), district secretariat member of the CPI(M); K.K. Krishnan (10th accused), member of the Onchiyam area committee; Jyothi Babu (12th accused), member of the Kunnothuparamba local committee; M.K. Raveendran aka Padayamkandi Raveendran (30th accused), member of the local committee; C. Babu (42nd accused), office secretary of Koothuparamba area committee, and K. Dhananjayan (70th accused), secretary of Koothuparamba area committee. The court observed that no legally admissible evidence was found to support the allegation of the prosecution against the accused. It also ordered that Mohanan and C. Rajith (27th accused), who were in judicial custody, be released forthwith if their detention was not required in connection with any other case.

The prosecution case was that a section of CPI(M) leaders in Kozhikode and Kannur districts allegedly hatched a conspiracy and hired a seven-member gang to kill Chandrasekharan, who had walked out of the party and floated a dissident outfit at Onchiyam.

Politically motivated

Court sources said the judgment, running into over 350 pages, indicated that it was a politically motivated murder. However, only five-page operative part of the judgment was sourced to the media and others.

The first seven accused, who actually took part in the killing, were found guilty under Section 302, 143, 147 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The accused from second to seventh were found guilty under Section 148. However the second accused and third accused were also convicted under Sections of the Explosive Substances Act.

Ramachandan, Manojan, and Kunhanandan were found guilty under Section 120 (criminal conspiracy) of 302 (murder) of IPC. Rafeeque was found guilty under Section 109 (abetment), while Pradeepan under Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the IPC.

Reacting to the verdict, special prosecutors C.K. Sreedharan and P. Kumarankutty said they would appeal against the acquittal of the accused.

Rema not satisfied

K.K. Rema, wife of the slain RMP leader, said she was not fully satisfied with the verdict. But the verdict had exposed the role of the CPI(M) in Kozhikode and Kannur districts hatching a plot to kill Chandrasekharan. She also demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the case.^[8]

References