TK Rajeesh: Portrait of a Commie killer

Films over the years have seen a number of suave contract killers who fly down, complete their ‘assignments’ and fly out in the blink of an eyelid. It must have been one such glorified villain who inspired T K Rajeesh to his chosen vocation with his modus operandi closely resembling that of villains in action films.

T K Rajeesh alias ‘T K’ of Karayi Veedu, Patyam in Kannur district and one among the hit-men who hacked Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T P Chandrasekharan to death on May 4, was known for doing the impossible. His ability in executing operations without leaving any clues made him a trusted man of many top leaders of CPI(M) in Kannur. He would fly down to Kannur from Mumbai whenever his party bosses wanted him to associate in operations. Rajeesh, a chronic bachelor, who has been working as ‘body guard’ for a Mumbai based Malayali builder, was nabbed by Special Investigation Team (SIT) from Sateli Bhedshi village in Sindhudurg district in Maharasthra on June 5 and was brought to Kozhikode. He had shifted his activities to Mumbai a few years ago following possible attacks from the RSS. “Rajeesh emerged as a man to reckon with in Kannur after the brutal murder of BJP leader Jayakrishnan Master in 1999. Besides Chandrasekharan murder case, Rajeesh was also involved in the murder of Muzhuppilangadu Sooraj in 2005, Kuniyil Suresh Babu in 2008 and Vadakkechalil Vinayan in 2009. However, he was not arraigned as an accused in any of the cases as he rubbed shoulders with who’s who of CPI(M) in the state,” a top police official said.

On interrogation, Rajeesh has reportedly informed the police that he was contacted by CPI(M) Panoor area committee member Kunjananthan two months ago to associate with the operation and revealed that the plot was hatched by N K Sunil Kumar alias Kodi Suni, Kirmani Manoj and M C Anoop. Meanwhile, in a major breakthrough, SIT also arrested another prime accused N K Sunil Kumar alias Kodi Suni.