Kerala’s Left Democratic Front government on Monday rejected the opposition’s demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation inquiry into the killing of a Youth Congress worker, PTI reported. Responding to the Congress-led United Democratic Front’s adjournment motion for CBI investigation during Zero Hour in the Assembly, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, “The investigation by the state police is going on in the right direction. So, there is no need for a CBI probe.”

United Democratic Front legislators had entered the House wearing black bands to protest against 30-year-old Muhammad Shuhaib’s killing at Mattannur in Kannur, holding photographs of his mutilated body and placardslisting their demands. They stormed the Well of the House and placed a banner in front of Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan’s podium, forcing him to adjourn the session.

Members of the United Democratic Front entered the House wearing black bands to protest against 30-year-old Muhammad Shuhaib’s killing at Mattannur in Kannur and held photographs of his mutilated body and placards with their demands when they stormed the Well of the House. The members also placed a banner in front of Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan’s podium forcing him to adjourn the session.

The Opposition claimed that victim’s family doubted the ability of the state police to conduct a fair investigation, the chief minister said the force was conducting an impartial inquiry. “The investigation by the state police is going on in the right direction. So, there is no need for a CBI probe,” the chief minister said.

Vijayan condemned the killing and said that his government believed that individual and ideological differences cannot justify murder. Five people have been arrested and a conspiracy angle is being investigated, the chief minister said.

The chief minister said the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led government would punish the culprits found guilty of the crime and refuted the Opposition’s claim that political violence had increased under their rule.

The case

A group of men allegedly hacked Muhammad Shuhaib to death in Kerala’s Kannur district on February 12. They first threw a crude bomb at Shuhaib and two other Youth Congress workers before attacking them with sharp weapons, Mathrubhumi reported.

Kannur clashes

Kannur has been the hub of political violence in Kerala for decades. Between the 1970s and 1990s, there were several violent clashes between the CPI(M) and the Congress. Since the late 1990s, clashes between the CPI(M) and Sangh Parivar have become the order of the day.

According to police data, 69 political murders were reported in Kannur between 2000 and 2016. Since then, 10 more murders, including Shuhaib’s, that have taken place.