In a big relief to Congress Kerala chief K Sudhakaran, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday acquitted him of conspiracy charges in the 1995 EP Jayarajan murder attempt case.

The High Court acquitted Sudhakaran and another accused in the case, Rajeevan, saying that the allegations of criminal conspiracy against them were already investigated by Andhra Pradesh police and therefore, a second FIR registered in Kerala on the same accusations is not legally sustainable.

The single bench of Justice Ziyad Rahman AA observed that ”the proceedings initiated against K Sudhakaran (1st accused) and Rajeev (3rd accused) based on FIR No. 148/1997 cannot be permitted to continue since it is a second FIR filed against the parties by E P Jayarajan raising the same allegations based on the same incident itself”.

“In this case, I have already found that, there is a legal bar in proceeding against the petitioners herein, in view of the fact that, the FIR based on which the entire prosecution case is built, amounts to a second FIR in respect of the very same transactions covered by the FIR and final report in Crime No.14/1995 of Chirala Railway Police Station.. Hence the invocation of the Revisional Powers of this Court is justified”, the court said.

The Criminal Revision petition was filed by accused 1 (K Sudhakaran) and 3 (Rajeev) against the order of the Sessions Judge rejecting the prayer to discharge the case. The Case is pending on the file of the Court of the Additional Sessions Judge-IV, Thiruvananthapuram and the offences alleged were under section 120B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) and section 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC.

The court said that the second FIR was registered based on a private complaint filed by E P Jayarajan wherein some additional witnesses were produced and there was also an allegation of conspiracy to do away with some more persons. The Court stated that this by itself was not a reason to register a second FIR.

The second FIR in Kerala was registered on EP Jayarajan’s complaint alleging that Sudhakaran and other accused met at Thycaud Guest House in Thiruvananthapuram back in 1995 and conspired to do away with the leaders of the CPI-M.

The incident related to the case happened on April 12, 1995. E P Jayarajan was attacked in Andhra Pradesh when he was returning on a train from Chandigarh after the party congress. When he was washing his face in the wash basin of the train, the first accused Vikramchalil Sasi shot the fire in the neck of Jayarajan. Apart from Sasi, Petta Dinesan, T P Rajeevan, Biju and K Sudhakaran were included in the list of the accused.

Responding to the High Court order, Sudhakaran said this order is a big blow to the political narrative of both CPI-M and BJP to portray him as a criminal.

“CPI-M haunted me by giving me the title of ‘criminal’ due to this case. The onus is now on the government to find out the real culprits who planned the murder. The CPI-M wanted to kill my political career with this case but they failed miserably,” said Sudhakaran.