‘LC secretary tortured, spread as corruption’: Controversy over death of CPM branch committee member

Kochi ∙ Controversy related to the death of a CPM branch committee member in Ernakulam Paravur. P. Thambi (64), a member of CPM Nanthyattukunnam West Branch Committee of Paravoor Nanthyattukunnam Anchancheri, was found dead in his hotel room in Kochi yesterday.

A WhatsApp message sent by Thambi has been sent to some friends before his death. The message is that the complaint has been registered against the state secretary, district secretary, district secretary and state committee member S. Sharma for torturing the party’s local committee secretary and for spreading rumors that he is corrupt and deceitful to his party members and supporters and that he will end his party career.

The position of the leadership of the party is that the complaint received in the dispute about the transfer of personal money was investigated only by Thambi and that there is no responsibility for the suicide. Thambi left home on Monday saying he was going to Thiruvananthapuram. He was supposed to be back on Tuesday. But it did not arrive. The family went to the Paravur police when they could not reach the phone.

During the initial investigation, it was found that the last phone was located in Ernakulam North. He was later found dead in a hotel in Ernakulam North during the investigation by the police. Court of Paravur Munsiff Retd. Thampi Matsyathazilali, a bench clerk, was active in the roles of Treasurer of the Ehishikara Union Village and Committee Member of the EMS Cultural Research Centre. It is also reported that he was not happy with the current leadership of the party in Ehishikara.

Meanwhile, on September 11, a meeting of the Nanthyattukunnam West Branch, which is part of the Ehishikara Local Committee, was held. There were reports that there was a dispute between the members at this meeting. However, the explanation of the leadership of the area committee is that there was no dispute or scuffle and that they were only looking for information about a money transaction related to Thambi.

Thambi had allegedly taken Rs 19 lakh from a party member from Tamil Nadu’s Kanyakumari district. After this was not returned, he filed a complaint with the state leadership. After the state leadership referred this to the Ernakulam district committee, the matter was discussed at a branch committee meeting and Tambi was asked to return the money as soon as possible, the district committee leadership says.

At the same time, people related to Thambi say that the money was bought for someone else and that the money could not be returned because it was not returned on time. They also say that Thambi had submitted a 4-page complaint including to the state leadership of the party indicating that efforts were being made to make him corrupt and bad.

It is also claimed that the senior leaders of the committee were always putting pressure on Thambi regarding the issue of payment. It is said that despite the intervention of the state leadership, Thambi was not able to return the money even after the specified date and the people receiving the money were in communication regular after that.