CBI arrests Dy SP in Unnithan assault case

The CBI on Monday arrested crime branch Deputy SP N Abdul Rasheed in connection with an attempt to murder case against Mathrubhumi's senior reporter V.B. Unnithan on April 16, 2011.

Rasheed is now NRI Cell Dy SP and Kerala Police Services Officers’ Association state president.

The CBI found Rasheed an associate of all conspiracies in connection with the case. Earlier, another Crime Branch Dy SP Santhosh Nair and Container Santhosh were held in connection with the case.

Unnithan was waylaid by a gang and beaten to pulp at Sasthamcotta where he narrowly escaped the murder bid with multiple fractures in his legs, hands and ribs.

He was bedridden for 6 months and took another 7 to 8 months to regain normalcy, with a steel rod in his left leg. The story was reported in Media Watch supplement of The Sunday Indian, April 2012.

Container Santhosh in a statement in the court said that he was trapped by Santhosh Nair and Rasheed. There were reports that Unnithan was targeted for reporting against the unholy nexus between police and the gooda gang. It was under tremendous pressure that the case was handed over to Crime Branch and then to CBI.

The first accused in the case, Happy Rajesh, was found dead in an auto on April 28, 2011.

The crime branch did not approve the allegation that infamous Quotation gang was behind an attempt on Unnithan's life.

The assumption was that it was done by a  group having prior rivalry with Happy Rajesh in another incident.

The crime branch did not investigate the statement of Container Santhosh that two Dy Sps were behind the murder bid on the scribe's life.

These developments raised a row in the state and the case was handed over to the CBI. It is the first time CBI is investigating a case involving a journalist.