Communist Party of India (CPM) Koyilandy Town Central Local Secretary PV Sathyanath (60) was brutally hacked to death at Peruvattur Cheriyapuram temple in Koyilandy, Kozhikode, by fellow party worker Purathona Abhilash (35). The assailant, a known CPM faction member and neighbour of Sathyanath, committed the crime inside a temple premises where a festival was going on.
Sathyanath was taken to the Koyilandy Taluk Hospital, where the hospital authorities pronounced him dead. Satyanath mentored Abhilash and brought him to the communist fold. Several CPM leaders and Deshabhimani (CPM mouthpiece) immediately alleged that RSS was behind the ‘political murder.’ These allegations were quickly retracted, but the CPM cadre continued to tarnish RSS on social media.
Sathyanath was hacked to death on Thursday night at around 10 pm while he was attending a music program at the temple. Abhilash escaped from the crime scene and surrendered before the police.
According to police sources, Abhilash confessed to the crime, and his arrest was recorded. He claimed that in the past, the CPM had failed to defend him against several attacks. It was revealed that he was connected to multiple criminal cases in Koyilandy and the neighbouring districts. Allegedly, Abhilash is a CPM hitman.
Police sources said it was a planned attack as Abhilash reached the spot with an axe. Satyanath was brutally killed in front of the locals in the temple without any provocation. The CPM leader suffered several wounds in the violent episode.
An autopsy confirmed that he died of a deep wound to his neck. The weapon used to kill Satyanath was found near the crime scene. Abhilash was produced in court and remanded.
Janmabhumi reported that the BJP has filed a complaint against the CPM leaders who tried to implicate their leaders. The complaint said that CPM leaders M Swaraj and M Vijin MLA had posted on Facebook that RSS was behind Satyanath’s murder. Swaraj posted on Facebook that Sathyanath was the latest victim of RSS terrorism.
Others who unleashed fake propaganda against the RSS included Advocates P M Athira and K S Arunkumar. Arun Kumar’s post was that the CPM local secretary was hacked to death by RSS men. Athira is an Additional Government Pleader and Public Prosecutor at Kozhikode District Court.
Vijin MLA spread the word that Sathyanath was hacked to death by RSS men inside a temple compound. Many Hindus immediately understood the falsehood behind the evil scheme.
The CPM-owned Kairali channel also gave similar news. It was spread that the arrested accused had been associated with the RSS for some time. With this, CPM WhatsApp groups started hate campaigns against RSS and BJP. With the announcement of a hartal by the CPM district leadership in Koyilandy, the CPM cadres openly came out against the RSS and the BJP.
After the accused’s CPM connection came out on social media and other media, the leaders edited the Facebook page and escaped. Those behind the propaganda posts never apologized. The complaint was filed with the Kozhikode City Police Commissioner to file a case for trying to instigate rioting.
Before the election, the leaders and CPM tried to gain an advantage by creating a martyr. The revelation of the accused’s party affiliation through social media messed up the CPM’s evil plans. Has the CPM taken up from where the Popular Front of India terrorists ended? Are such urban naxals a threat to Hindu society?
Local and senior CPM party leaders asserted that Abhilash had been ‘suspended’ for disciplinary actions for more than eight years. Due to multiple reasons, many found this hard to believe.
CPM’s history of violence using gangs raised by the party comes out through the murder of a CPM leader in Koilandy. Abhilash is a former secretary of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI). He is also a close associate of Sathyanath and other party leaders.
Abhilash was the former driver of the Koyilandi Municipality chairperson Shanta and Adv K Sathyan. He functioned under DYFI’s Pain and Palliative Care Society till seven months ago. Abhilash was also active in DYFI’s night food distribution at Koilandi Govt. hospital until a few days ago.
Abhilash was an active member of “21 Brothers,” the CPM’s infamous defence force. This group is directly controlled and protected by the CPM leadership. Still, the CPM leadership claims Abhilash was expelled from the party many years ago.
It is reported that the CPM leadership used these gangs to attack the houses of their party leaders and their opponents. In 2015, Adv K Sathyan’s motorcycle was burnt, and branch secretary Rajan’s banana farm was destroyed. RSS-BJP workers were implicated in the case.
The truth came to light in 2018 when one DYFI man died, and another was seriously injured in a bike accident. The seriously injured youth revealed that the bike accident happened because of the past mistakes they had made. The CPM party instigated the violence in 2015, he confessed.
On 13 April 2019, Abhilash was attacked by a gang. A case was filed against the RSS-BJP workers for this, too, but it became clear to Abhilash that it was his party members who were the assailants. The CPM leadership was not amused when Abhilash questioned this.
Although action was taken against Abhilash in the incident, it was a smokescreen. Abhilash was still active in the party. Meanwhile, the rivalry between Satyanath and Abhilash escalated.
Abhilash has stated that Sathyanath deliberately ignored him and kept him out of party activities. He also accused Sathyanath of not protecting him from thrashings from other party members. Abhilash’s statement also noted that this neglect led to hostility.
The information in Abhilash’s statement has been clarified in the remand report. Meanwhile, the investigation team got information that Abhilash had bought the weapon used for murder from some Gulf country.
In a statement, the CPM Area Committee explained that it was noticed that some media reported the killer as a CPM worker, and there was a deliberate attempt to tarnish the party. LDF convener E P Jayarajan admitted that he does not know what personal enmity is to take the life of Sathyanath.
Leaders questioned Abhilash’s claim that the party leadership ruined his life. Locals say that this feud resulted in the murder.
Within hours of the murder, senior police authorities, including District Police Chief (Kozhikode rural) Arvind Sukumar and Inspector General of Police (North Zone) K. Sethu Raman, arrived at the crime scene. The Kozhikode Rural police constituted a special investigation team led by a deputy superintendent of police (DySP) on Friday to look into the murder. The case will be looked into by a 14-person squad under the direction of Vadakara DySP. The DySPs from Thamarassery and Perambra are also included in the probe team.
On Friday night, Sathyanathan’s remains were cremated near his ancestral home at Peruvattur in Koyilandy in front of several party workers and leaders. M V Govindan, the state secretary of the CPM, and P A Mohammed Riyas, the minister of public works and tourism (and Pinarayi Vijayan’s son-in-law), paid their final respects to the late party leader.
Was this murder a ploy to divert attention from the financial fraud court cases that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his family face? Slowly but surely, the noose is tightening around Vijayan’s daughter, Veena Vijayan, who owns the IT firm Exalogic. She is married to Riyas, an MLA from Kozhikode.
Veena is the Exalogic’s sole director. Recently, she approached the Karnataka High Court seeking a stay of the ongoing probe by the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO). Still, both the Karnataka and Kerala High Courts refused to relieve her. Exalogic received cores in kickbacks from various companies, including those involved in mining operations.
