CPI(M) "prime accused" in first Marad violence: Antony

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 5 (UNI) Defending his government's honest and transparent steps taken during the Marad massacre, former Chief Minister A K Antony today said the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is the ''prime accused'' in the first Marad violence in 2001, which led to the second one in 2003.

Talking to mediapersons here he said, if the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front government agreed with the Marad commission report on the violence, then the Communist party implicated by the commission for the first Marad riots was the prime accused.

Mr Antony was reacting to CPI (M) State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan's statement of yesterday which had accused him as the ''prime accused'' in the Marad violence.

If this government was fully agreeing to the report, then the CPI (M), which had been named by the commission for flaming the first riots, was the prime accused, he added.

Noting that the CPI(M) was very much involved in the first riots at Marad, Mr Antony quoting from the probe report read ''in Vellayi beach, the Araya Samajam and the Mosque committee were in good terms and this was disliked by the CPI(M) activists. If the CPI(M)'s attitude was like this in Vellayil, then its attitude could also be the same at Marad''.

The commission had noted this after the Araya Samajam and the Mosque committee made their statements before it.

This only shows the role of the CPI(M) in the first massacre.

Moreover, the commission said 78 CPI(M) activists were found guilty after the records were verified.

Mr Vijayan told the probe team that the cases were fabricated against the then activists, but the commission had noted that the statement were not prima facie.

Mr Antony said he had not come across any report on 'FM', the hawala dealer mentioned by CPI(M) in Judicial Commission report of having funded the riots.

If there were any reports on such a man, then it would have been known to the DGP, Intelligence DGP and the IG. And the commission would have asked them about it.

Moreover, if there was any such man, then the commission which had taken three years in coming out with the report could have questioned this FM, Mr Antony said.

Even after persistent questions, he said ''I do not know who this FM is''.

Regarding the commission's findings that UDF government had failed to order a CBI probe into the whole incident, he reiterated that the AG's advise was sought. The AG had warned of the possibility of a CBI probe leading to the acquittal of the accused.

Even the CPI(M) had maintained that a CBI probe was not necessary, he added.

Referring to the Commission's observations about delay in processing the first Marad case, Mr Antony said the 59 accused persons in the case already got bail in April, while the request of the Director-General of Police for permission to prosecute the accused came one month later.

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