Contrary to the police record that Varghese was killed in an encounter on Feb 18, 1970, the policeman's version says that the revolutionary hero of the late 60s in the tribal belt of Wayanad was actually blind-folded and shot dead.

A letter written by Ramachandran, a constable, who claims to have carried out the execution of the former CPM member under orders of his superiors, has formed the basis of a recent article by an ex-Naxalite K Venu in a Malayalam weekly.

The letter in fact was written in 1977 by Ramachandran to Naxalite-turned trade union leader A Vasu, a close associate of Varghese, and had remained a secret.

``I was the man who shot him in cold blood, obeying the stern order of my senior officer,'' the Central Railway Police Force(CRPF) constable said in the letter. He had denied that Varghese was tortured before his death, as was widely believed at that time.

Even as the clamour for a fresh inquiry is gaining ground in the wake of the article, State Chief Minister E K Nayanar yesterday asserted that the Government had no intention to reopen the case.

However, Ramachandran's present stand that he was prepared to go to the gallows for telling the truth, though after such a long gap, is bound to create ripples in the State, despite the Chief Minister's assertion.

Narrating the sequence of events, Ramachandran claimed that he was not willing to carry out the order of the then Deputy Superintendent of Police Lakshmana, who led the police operation against Naxalites in Wayanad, which was then part of Kannur district.

But Lakshmana, he said, chose him to execute the order, threatening him that he would be shot to give the incident the semblance of an encounter.

``I had to give in, and shot the blindfolded, unarmed youth with aheavy heart,'' he said in an interview with Malayala Manorama daily recently.

According to Ramachandran, it was in the early morning on Feb 16, 1970, that an `informer' reached the police camp at Thirunelli in Wayanad, a predominantly tribal area that sheltered many Naxalites. The camp was stationed there since 1969 exclusively for operation against Naxalities.

The informer had betrayed Varghese after accommodating the latter in his (informer's) house. Two days later, an 11-member police team captured him. While he was being taken out of the jungles, the DIG, Vijayan, and the DYSP, Lakshmana, intercepted them and ordered the police to take him back to the forest.

Varghese, who by this time knew that he was going to be killed, asked Ramachandran to give a signal before being shot to enable him shout inquilab zindabad.

At 1845 hrs, on Feb 18, 1970, Varghese' eyes were bound with a handkerchief. A four-member firing squad was formed in which Ramachandran happened to be a member. Lakshmanawanted to know who was ready to kill the youth. ``All the three others, except me, raised their hands,'' recollects Ramachandran.

It was then that the DYSP forced him to shoot Varghese. To keep the word he gave to Varghese, Ramachandran made a sound before shooting him in the chest. Just as the bullet hit him, Varghese shouted Maoist unity zindabad, and inquilab zindabad, says the policeman.

Varghese, who was the district committee office secretary of the CPM till 1968, was sent to Wayanad to organise the peasants' movement, but later walked away from the party to join the Naxalites with most of his followers.