The Special Investigating Team (SIT) probing the murder of Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leader P.V. Sathyanathan, has ruled out the possibilities of an axe being the murder weapon. District Police Chief (Kozhikode Rural) Arvind Sukumar said that the weapon was a knife. However, he failed to confirm the claim in the remand report that the suspect, P. Abhilash, had purchased the knife from West Asia, where he had worked for more than a year. “We need to verify the claim,” he told The Hindu.
However, the accused had reportedly confessed that he had stabbed Sathyanathan with an intention to kill over a personal grudge. The two reportedly had a long-standing enmity over Sathyanathan’s alleged role in Abhilash’s expulsion from the party and removal from a party-led palliative care vehicle.
The murder took place around 10 p.m. on Thursday during the festival at Peruvattur Cheriyapuram Paradevatha Temple. Abhilash surrendered soon and was remanded in judicial custody on February 23 (Friday). The SIT is planning to move the Koyilandy Judicial First Class Magistrate Court on February 26 (Monday) seeking his custody.
