Wayanad DCC treasurer death: Suicide abetment case filed against Congress MLA I.C. Balakrishnan

Wayanad police investigate abetment to suicide charges against Congress leaders, sparking political controversy and internal inquiries.

The Wayanad police in Kerala have slapped charges of abetment to suicide against Sulthan Bathery MLA and Congress leader I.C. Balakrishnan as part of their investigation into the suspected death by suicide of former District Congress Committee (DCC) secretary N.M. Vijayan and his son Jijesh on December 27.

The police also named Wayanad DCC president N.D. Appachan, former DCC treasurer K.K. Gopinathan and the late DCC president P.V. Balachandran.

A senior official in Thiruvananthapuram told The Hindu that the probe was necessitated by letters purportedly sent by Vijayan to his relatives and party colleagues before his death. K.K. Abdul Shareef, DYSP, Sulthan Bathery, headed the probe.

The case has taken a political turn with Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary M.V. Govindan implicating the Congress leadership in the deaths of Vijayan and Jigesh. 

Speaking to reporters in Kozhikode on Thursday (January 9, 2025), Mr. Govindan sought to put the Congress on the defensive by alleging that the “financial shenanigans” of the Wayanad district’s Congress leadership had pushed Vijayan and his family into a debt trap. He claimed that Vijayan’s entreaties to the Congress State leadership for help fell on deaf ears. 

Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram that the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) had instituted an internal inquiry into the circumstances that led to Vijayan’s death. He rejected the CPI(M) accusation that the party leadership was dismissive of Vijayan’s distress. “The family met me and showed me the letters after Vijayan’s death”, he said.

Mr. Satheesan said that a commission headed by KPCC’s disciplinary committee chairperson Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, a former Home Minister, was enquiring into the accusations surrounding Vijayan’s death.