Special investigation team zeroes in on killer-party link

KOZHIKODE: The special investigation team (SIT) probing the killing of RMP leader T P Chandrasekharan has unravelled a major link between the CPM Kunnummakkara local committee member K C Ramachandran, now in police custody, and the CPM leadership in Kannur.
Sources in SIT say that Ramachandran had approached P K Kunhanandan, the Panur area committee member of the party, seeking his help to kill the RMP leader.Kunhanandan, in turn, contacted the CPM leader in Kannur to check if there is a mandate from the party for the 'action'.
After getting a 'go-ahead', Kunhanandan, who went into hiding four days ago, is said to have asked Ramachandran to contact Kodi Suni to carry out the killing. The SIT, in its effort to prevent him from leaving the country, has issued a look-out circular.
Cops had also raided his house at Parat many times in the past few days.
Sources say Suni had also contacted Kunhanandan to confirm the party's approval to the killing.
It has come out that one of the CPM local leaders, now in police custody, had introduced Ramachandran to Suni.
Kunhanandan, a senior leader of the party in Panur, was in the forefront of CPM's fight against P R Kurup, former minister and Janata Dal leader in Panur.
He is suspected to have links with various killer gangs of the CPM in Kannur. Kodi Suni was chosen for the 'job' as he was active in political murders recently.
Meanwhile, cops have conducted searches in the Kannavam forest in Kannur following inputs that the five assailants who went into hiding after visiting the Koothuparamaba area committee office the day after the murder, are hiding there.