The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) said the “cascading failures of the prosecution” that led to the acquittal of three “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers” accused of the murder of an Islamic cleric and Madrassa teacher, Mohammed Riyaz Maulavi, in Kasargode in 2019 had drawn the curtains back on the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s tacit understanding with the Sangh Parivar in Kerala.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan dared Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to clarify whether the acquittal was a trade-off between the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Kerala. He said the police and prosecution worked in tandem to save the “RSS activists”.
The acquittal appeared to have caught the LDF by surprise.