KOCHI: The Ernakulam Additional Sessions Court on Thursday held that a transparent and flawless investigation should be carried out by the CBI into the Unnithan murder attempt, taking into account the involvment of some of the high-ranking officials in the state police.The CBI informed the court that it will interrogate the Crime Branch investigation officers who had initially probed the case.The court reserved its order after the conclusion of arguments on the bail plea filed by Deputy Superintendent of Police(DySP) N Abdul Rasheed, the 10th accused in the case.The three accused, DySP Abdul Rasheed, DySP Santhosh Nair, and notorious goon Container Santhosh had conspired to assault Unnithan, a reporter with the Mathrubhumi daily, the CBI said.The petitioner counsel B Raman Pilla submitted that the arrest was made approximately one year after the incident and that DySP Abdul Rasheed had been falsely implicated and framed in the case.However, the CBI strongly opposed the bail plea of Rasheed. ”There are independent evidence against the accused and some of the witnesses have also confirmed the involvement of Rasheed. The deposition of Container Santhosh also reveals top official link in the case. The accused, DySP Santhosh Nair, Container Santhosh and DySP Rasheed, were known to each other for a long period and had also spent a vacation together at Goa. The three accused had conspired to assault Unnithan. After the attack, they had arranged a party to celebrate the successful execution of their plans at a resort in Kollam,” the CBI submitted.The Crime Branch implicated Rasheed only when the state government was planning to hand over the case to the CBI. However, Rasheed was arrested during the investigation by the CBI. The petitioner is highly influential, the CBI sources said.The petitioner had also threatened DySP Santhosh Nair’s wife over the phone and asked to delete all photographs of the Goa trip from the personal laptop, the CBI said.“The investigation is at a crucial juncture and if the accused is granted bail, he could threaten the witnesses and tamper with the evidence which will jeopardise the progress of the case,” the CBI submitted.DySP Rasheed started behaving abnormally after his arrest and had also threatened the investigation officer with retaliation once the bail is granted. After the arrest, Chief Judicial Majistrate Court had remanded the accused in CBI custody. The accused was not co-operating with the investigation, and the CBI had to forcefully produce him at the court before the duration of the custodial sentence expired, the sources added.
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