Controversial Kerala Prison dept letter on ‘release’ of T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case convicts sparks political row

A recent letter from the Kerala Prisons and Correctional Service requesting a report on potential security issues central to the Communist Party of India’s (Marxist) “possibility of parole” [CPI(M)] “Activists” in jail for the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader TP Chandrasekharan in Kozhikode in 2012 have sparked a political controversy in Kerala.

RMP leader and Chandrasekharan’s wife KK Rema, MLA, told reporters in Kozhikode that the wording of the letter was interesting. “It does not mention parole. It says parole (viduthal). The letter is the latest in a series of cunning attempts by the CPI(M) to circumvent the Kerala High Court’s order that convicts must serve at least 20 years in prison before the government can make any request for remission of life imprisonment,” he said.

Director General of Prisons Balram Kumar Upadhyay said: Hindu It was stated that the legal basis of the letter was a recent court decision.

He said that the Additional Sessions Court at Thalassery in Kannur had on October 8 acquitted 12 persons accused of the double murder of two Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers Vijith and Shinoj in New Mahe in 2010.

He said several of those acquitted were serving time in Kannur jail after the Kerala High Court upheld their convictions in the TP murder case.

Mr. Upadhyay said the application for parole by some TP case convicts raises certain security concerns, including a possible threat to their lives and political peace if they are released on parole. He said the prisons department acted legally by consulting the prison warden and the district police chief.

‘Protection of the government’

Another prison official said it was “the government’s discretion” to grant parole based on recommendations from the district magistrate and the Home Ministry. “The prisons department had only an advisory role in this matter,” he said.

The “liberal” parole and other “privileges”, including wellness treatment at Ayurvedic centers and allegedly unlimited access to mobile phones, visitors and “home cooking” for TP trial inmates, was a central sore point between the government and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition.

Recently, the Congress sparked outrage in the House after CCTV footage went viral showing TP case convicts consuming alcohol while being escorted by police for a hearing at a bar hotel.

Disturbingly for the CPI(M), the state police had accused certain TP case convicts of running an extensive criminal enterprise from within the prison walls, including protection rackets and intercepting smugglers to seize contraband goods, mainly gold, in north Kerala.