M M Mani appears before police

THODUPUZHA: With options running out, CPI (M) leader M M Mani Wednesday turned up before police for questioning in connection with his controversial speech that the party had in the past eliminated its foes. Police had served a virtual ultimatum to Mani yesterday after he failed twice to respond to notices to appear at the DySP office here for questioning. Mani had little choice but to comply with the notice after the Kerala High Court last week rejected his plea to quash the FIRs against him. Two days ago Mani's lawyers had told the police team that the CPI (M) leader would not be personally appearing for questioning as he was planning to move the Supreme Court against the high court order. The police, however, turned down the plea and made it clear that they would go ahead with the due procedures in the matter. Though speculation was rife that he had gone into hiding to evade police, Mani turned up at his home town in Idukki district last night after keeping away from public glare for a couple of days. Mani had recently courted a controversy after he made a speech that the party in Idukki in the 1980s drew up a list of rivals to be eliminated and killed three of them. After his public utterances brought huge embarrassment to the CPI-M, he was removed as Idukki district secretary by the state committee. Police had last month filed FIRs against him and summoned him for questioning in connection with some of the past cases of political murder. Mani's speech had come as an added embarrassment to the CPI-M's state unit as several of its activists were arrested in connection with the murder of Marxist rebel leader T P Chandrasekharan in May.