Ariyil Shukkoor murder case: CBI court posts case for further hearing on November 16

A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Special Court has posted the case relating to the murder of Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) worker Abdul Shukkoor for further hearing on November 16.

The court is likely to decide the date for pronouncing the verdict on that day. It was earlier reported that the judgment would be passed on November 12.

The case assumed political significance after former Kannur district secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] P. Jayarajan and former MLA and then Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) State secretary T.V. Rajesh were arraigned as accused numbers 32 and 33. The court had earlier refused to quash the trial proceedings against them.

Shukkoor, 21, a native of Ariyil near Taliparamba, was allegedly hacked to death by a group of assailants at Keezhara, under the Kannapuram police station limits on February 20, 2012. The murder was allegedly carried out in retaliation for an attack on Mr. Jayarajan and Mr. Rajesh during their visit to the tension-hit Ariyil earlier that morning.

Shukkoor and four other youths, who had taken refuge in a house at Keezhara, were allegedly forced to leave the premises after a group of CPI(M) workers intimidated the house owners. The police said their captors photographed them using mobile phones and verified their identities with party workers. Following the purported verification, three of them were released. Shukkoor and Zakaria were then taken to a nearby field and stabbed. While Shukkoor succumbed to his injuries, Zakaria, who also sustained stab injuries, managed to escape.

Mr. Jayarajan and Mr. Rajesh were charged under Section 118 of the Indian Penal Code after investigators found that they allegedly had prior knowledge of the conspiracy to kill Shukkoor. The conspiracy was purportedly hatched in a room at the Taliparamba Co-operative Hospital, where they had been admitted on February 20 following an attack on Mr. Jayarajan’s convoy by alleged IUML workers earlier the same day.