Idukki: The dawn-to-dusk hartal called by CPM in Idukki to protest arrest of party leader M M Mani for his refusal to turn up for a polygraph test in connection with a case registered in the wake of his controversial speech, hit normal life in the high range district on Thursday. Mani was arrested and remanded to judicial custody on Wednesday for rejecting the police notice to undergo brain mapping in connection with a political murder case, re-opened in the wake of his speech in which he said his party had in the past eliminated some foes in Idukki.
The protest had been peaceful but crippled mobility of people as buses kept off the road and shops remained closed. The shutdown also affected works in plantations, for which the district is famous, police said. CPI and other left parties had refused to join the hartal though they also resented the arrest of Mani, a senior most left leader of the district. CPM had accused the Congress led LDF government of flouting due procedures in the arrest of Mani and dubbed it a politically-motivated act to deflect public attention from "failures" of the government.
Police had registered a criminal case against Mani and two other party activists by re-opening the murder of an INTUC activist in Idukki district 30 years ago in the light of his speech. The special investigation team probing the case against Mani had last week served a notice to him, seeking to know whether
03:21 PM, Nov 22, 2012
Idukki: The Kerala Police on Wednesday served notice on Communist Party of India-Marxist's (CPM) former Idukki district secretary M.M. Mani to appear for a polygraph (lie-detector) test. Mani told media persons here that he would seek legal advice on what he should do next. "I will also speak with my doctor and then decide on what needs to be done," said Mani after receiving the notice. The former Idukki district...
02:52 PM, Nov 14, 2012
Munnar: After running into controversy again, CPI-M leader MM Mani on Sunday strongly refuted having made a speech two days back in which he purportedly said the party was involved in the murder of an INTUC leader in Idukki district. Mani's denial came a day after Malayalam television channels aired an audio of the speech purportedly made by him at a public meeting at Pathammile near Munnar last week. "This...
02:52 PM, Aug 12, 2012
For all those who has been patiently waiting for the screen version of Santhosh Echikkanam's 'Idukki Gold', here comes the assurance from its director Aashiq Abu. Presently donning a character in Rajeev Ravi's 'Annayum Rasoolum', Aashiq is sure that he will can the film in the year 2013. Currently meeting a stumbling block in its screenplay, Aashiq is planning to devote more time with his scriptwriters Dileesh Nair and Shyam...
12:38 PM, Jul 31, 2012
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday is expected to hear controversial CPI(M) leader MM Mani's plea to quash FIRs registered against him over his speech on elimination of political foes. Mani had earlier moved the Kerala High Court saying if such tendencies are not checked, it would sound the "death knell" of democracy. Justice S Satishchandran, however, dismissed his plea saying the speech and the revelations prima facie discloses...
12:32 PM, Jul 23, 2012
New Delhi: Controversial Kerala CPM leader MM Mani on Wednesday reached police station for questioning. A case was filed against Mani last month after he claimed the CPM eliminated at least 3 political rivals in the 1980s. Earlier, Kerala Police on Wednesday set a deadline of 10 am for Mani to come for questioning or else will be arrested. The deadline was set on Tuesday when the Idukki district leader...
10:01 AM, Jul 04, 2012
Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition by controversial Marxist leader MM Mani, seeking to quash FIRs registered against him over his speech on elimination of political foes, saying if such tendencies are not checked, it would sound the "death knell" of democracy. Dismissing the petition, Justice S Satishchandran said the speech and the revelations prima facie discloses commission of cognisable offence, which fully justifies registration of...
02:10 PM, Jun 28, 2012
Thiruvananthapuram: A senior CPI(M) member created a flutter in the Kerala Assembly on Monday by displaying two teargas grenades, allegedly used by police to disperse a student protest in Thiruvananthapuram last week. Speaker G Karthikeyan and Home Minister Thiruvanchur Radkahrishnan took strong exception to the conduct of EP Jayarajan, who exhibited the grenades while accusing police of "brutally" suppressing the protest organised by his party's campus wing Students Federation of...
01:24 PM, Jun 18, 2012
Idukki (Kerala): A day after he was removed as CPI(M)'s Idukki district Secretary for his controversial speech, MM Mani on Thursday said he had expected the disciplinary action as he had committed a "mistake". Mani, however, alleged some local Congress leaders and a section of the media had colluded and "blown his speech out of proportion" and cast him and the party in poor light. Faced with a huge embarrassment...
02:40 PM, Jun 07, 2012
New Delhi: Kerala CPM leader MM Mani's case regarding his controversial speeches is to come for hearing on Thursday in the High Court. Mani had approached the court earlier asking to cancel the cases against him and quash the FIRs. The former Idukki District Secretary was sacked from his post after his speeches that had embarrassed the CPM. Cracking the whip, CPM on Wednesday removed its Idukki district secretary MM...
06:40 AM, Jun 07, 2012
Thiruvananthapuram: Cracking the whip, CPM on Wednesday removed its Idukki district secretary MM Mani from his post for his controversial speech that the party had eliminated political foes in the past, which had embarrassed the organisation and invited an all round condemnation. The CPM state Secretariat said action against Mani was taken as he had deviated from the party's stand in the controversial speech made at a public meeting in...
01:23 AM, Jun 07, 2012
New Delhi: The Kerala Police have summoned CPM's Idukki District Secretary MM Mani over the controversial statements that he made about CPM rivals being killed. The CPM is also likely to decide what action they might take on the issue in the second and final day of the state-level meet. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Tuesday rejected CPM's charge that case registered against Mani for his controversial speech stating...
06:51 AM, Jun 06, 2012
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Tuesday rejected CPI-M's charge that case registered against party Idukki district secretary MM Mani for his controversial speech stating that the Left party had eliminated at least three of its political foes years ago. Reacting to CPI-M state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan's statement in this regard, Chandy said here 'it is the CPI-M which is viewing the issue politically and in a wrong way'....
03:42 AM, Jun 06, 2012
Idukki: In fresh trouble for a senior CPI-M functionary in Kerala, police on Monday booked MM Mani in another murder case on the basis of his controversial speech on eliminating political foes. For the first time, the case naming a specific murder of a man in 1980s was registered against Idukki district CPI-M Secretary Mani and four others in Rajakad police station in the district, police said. The case listing...
01:32 AM, Jun 05, 2012
Kochi: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Sunday said that a case will be made against CPI(M) leader MM Mani for his speech that his party has committed murders to finish off their political opponents. "All who heard the speech will not spare our government if we do not proceed against him because he made it very clear the way his party had killed their political opponents. When a leader...
02:15 PM, Jun 03, 2012
Kochi: Six Students Federation of India (SFI) activists were injured after a march organised to the Kanayannur Taluk office turned violent on Friday. As many as 100 SFI activists took out a march against the delay in arresting the culprits involved in the murder of SFI Idukki district secretary Aneesh Raj. The march was part of the SFI's state-wide protest. Among the six injured, SFI district joint-secretary Shyam Shankar and...
08:13 AM, Jun 03, 2012
New Delhi: The CPM on Tuesday condemned one of its leaders in Kerala for justifying retaliatory killing of political foes and vowed to take "appropriate action" against him. A statement from the Communist Party of India-Marxist said it disapproved the remarks made by MM Mani, secretary of the party in Idukki district. Mani sparked outrage when he told a public meeting last week that his party believed in tit-for-tat killings...
02:48 AM, May 30, 2012
New Delhi: A Special Investigation Team will probe CPM leader MM Mani's recent remarks that the party had a history of killing its opponents, Kerala Home Minister T Radhakrishnan said on Tuesday. "This deposition is equal to the confession of a top leader from the Marxist party. So we will look into it. We will have to look into the details because he is telling old stories," the state Home...
07:34 PM, May 29, 2012
Thiruvananthapuram: The CPM in Kerala is scrambling to limit damage after its Idukki district chief's controversial remarks that the party kills off its political rivals. And in a first, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi slammed the CPM - a move that has been interpreted as the BJP's out-reach to Mamata Banerjee. Confessions of a CPM insider, Idukki district secretary MM Mani narrating the history of political eliminations in the state...
12:10 AM, May 28, 2012
Mumbai/Thiruvananthapuram: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday asked the Kerala CPI-M to explain the controversial speech of Idukki District Secretary MM Mani, where he stated that there had been instances of the Left eliminating its political rivals. Mani, at a public meeting at Thodupuzha in Idukki district on Saturday evening, reminded his audience of how some of the rivals of the party...
03:55 PM, May 27, 2012
