Thiruvananthpuram:
Kerala's Leader of Opposition and Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M) veteran VS Achuthanandan on Monday denied his party's involvement in the murder of a former party leader and said that it was for the police to find out the truth.
"All what I said about the party not being behind this was based on the explanation made out by the Kozhikode party district secretary and now it is the responsibility of the investigating police to come out with what happened," Mr Achuthanandan told reporters.
TP Chandrasekharan was killed in Onchiyam on Friday night while returning home.
Incidentally, barring Mr Achuthanandan, none of the top brass of the CPI-M turned up to pay homage to their former party comrade.
Police said that he was attacked with a bomb and then killed. His face was badly disfigured.
Mr Chandrasekharan was a very active and popular CPI-M leader in his hometown in Onchiyam near Kozhikode till 2008 after which he formed the Revolutionary Marxist Party, which unseated his old party in village councils around his home town.
Soon after the murder, the Congress alleged that the murder could not have taken place without the CPI-M's knowledge, leading to a war of words between the leaders of the two parties.
CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday said that with the Neyattinkara by-election round the corner, police might not arrest the culprits for ulterior motives.
Police are tight-lipped about the progress of the investigation, but sources said that half a dozen people are in custody in connection with the crime.
A police team on Monday arrived at the Kannur Central Prison and inspected the list of visitors in the past one month while the cyber cell is also investigating the telephone calls that were made from the prison in the recent past.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that there is no doubt that the murderers will be brought to book.
"I am surprised to hear why Vijayan said that police will not arrest the killers," he said.
However, Congress MP from Kannur, K Sudhakaran, told reporters in New Delhi that there was no doubt that it was the CPI-M which was behind the murder, and demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe to unearth the truth.