Vijayan: Probe Muthoot scions criminal links

Giving a political dimension to the Muthoot murder case,CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the investigation has been moving in the right direction...

Giving a political dimension to the Muthoot murder case,CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the investigation has been moving in the right direction,but added that he was in favour of an inquiry into the past of the murdered businessman Paul M George and his alleged criminal links.

The executive director of the Muthoot Groups hospitality division was found murdered in Alappuzha on Friday night. Ruling out the murder as a pre-planned one,the police had claimed that Paul was stabbed following a skirmish with a gang of professional killers after a hit-and-run incident. Paul had been travelling with Om Prakash and Puthenpalam Rajesh,two notorious goons from the state capital who are now absconding. The police version contained several loopholes and looked like an attempt to hush up the alleged conspiracy behind the murder. There had been allegations about a nexus between Om Prakash and the family of a senior CPM minister.

Vijayan said the CPM had no links with Om Prakash as alleged by certain quarters. A probe has to be conducted into why Paul travelled with the criminals like Om Prakash and Rajesh. While in Delhi in 2007,Paul had been arrested and jailed for possessing drugs. The Opposition and the media are raising allegations against CPM leaders only to cover up Pauls illegal links, he said.

Vijayan said the media should not make wild allegation that the son of a minister had close links with the absconding criminals. If you specify the names,then only the minister concerned and his son could respond to that charge, he said. He also dragged the RSS into the issue,saying the killer used an S shaped knife,which according to Vijayan was usually used by the Sangh Parivar.

BJP leader K Surendran said the CPM has been desperately trying to save Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan whose family allegedly has links with Om Prakash.

Meanwhile,Muthoot spokesperson Babu John Malayil said the firm goes by the police version that the murder was not pre-planned. We do not see any business rivalry behind the murder, he said,adding they had no idea why Paul was with criminals.