The arrest of P Mohanan, CPI(M)'s district Secretariat member and husband of party MLA K K Lathika has made matters worse for the CPI-M several of whose activists are in jail in the case that has come to haunt the party in recent weeks.
Mohanan was taken into custody from Quilandy near here this morning and, after questioning by SIT, produced before a court in Vatakara which remanded him to seven days police custody.
He has been charged under sections 120B (conspiracy) and 118 (concealing design to commit offence) of IPC.
Tension prevailed outside the court as a large number of CPI(M) workers gathered and demonstrated against his arrest. The protest turned violent with the crowd pelting stones at police vehicles, prompting police to cane-charge and burst tear gas shells to disperse them.
A school teacher, Mohanan is the first district-level leader to be arrested by the special investigation team set up to probe the May 4 brutal murder, though several area, local and branch level CPI(M) activists have already been remanded in the politically sensitive case.
Chandrasekharan once a key CPI(M) functionary in the Communist stronghold Onjiyam near Vatakara floated the Revolutionary Marxist Party and was killed by a hit squad but police suspected a "conspiracy" by some CPI(M) functionaries, a charge which the party has persistently rejected.
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Condemning the arrest, CPI(M) central committee member E P Jayarajan accused police of acting in tune with the plan drew up by the Congress-led UDF Government to "frame" the party.
Chandrasekharan's widow, Rema, said the RMP's contention that the murder was plotted by CPI(M) was getting vindicated day by day.