The Centre would extend all help to Kerala if the state demands a CBI probe into the 'larger conspiracy' behind the 2003 massacre in nearby Marad,in which nine persons were killed,Union minister of state for home,Mullapally Ramachandran said here today. "If the Kerala government demands a CBI probe into the larger conspiracy behind the 2003 Marad massacre,in which nine persons were killed,the Centre will extend its help," he told reporters here. Stating that CBI comes under the purview of the Prime Minister and not the home department,he said it might be possible to bring the 'larger conspiracy' behind the massacre to light if the state government exerts pressure on the Centre for a CBI probe. A judicial commission that probed the incident had found some fundamentalist outfits were behind the carnage in which nine persons were killed,eight of them belonging to the Hindu fishermen community. The panel had also found that the massacre was the result of a "larger conspiracy". Ramachandran replied in the negative when asked if Kerala is a recruiting centre for terrorist activities,saying such attempts were made in the past by taking youths from the state to Kashmir and training them at camps. "There are no such attempts now to recruit youths from Kerala into terrorist activities," he said. Yesterday Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan had slammed UDF government for disbanding a special police team probing the massacre and demanded a CBI probe into the "conspiracy" behind the carnage and said he suspected ulterior motives behind the move when investigation reached the critical phase. A Division Bench of Kerala High Court on Jan 20 directed the government to file a detailed statement on why SIT was disbanded and investigating officers transferred.
