Rajeevan's photo published in a Malayalam fortnightly and which was reproduced by local papers has not faded from the memory of the local people. The photo still haunts Rajeevan as a spectre foiling his plans and his dreams of a family life.

The fortnightly published the photo, depicting him as the brain behind the murder attempt of a political leader. Rajeevan believes that his photo was passed on to the police by a visa racketeer so that he would not demand the money he had given for the visa.

The Malayalam edition of prestigious magazine had published Rajeevan's photo along with the cover story on the sensational E P Jayarajanmurder attempt case.

According to the investigative report, Kannur DCC president K Sudhakaran had met Rajeevan in Kozhikode who was the brain behind the conspiracy to murder E P Jayarajan on a running train in Andhra Pardesh. Rajeevan who was the close associate of Sudhakaran had given the revolvers to the assailants to kill the CPM leader, says the story.

But what went wrong with the story was that instead of the photo of T P Rajeevan who was named in the story the magazine published the photo of C K Rajeevan under the caption `T P Rajeevan'.

But the fortnightly promptly carried the correction in its next issue with an editor's note that the photo of C K Rajeevan was used inadvertently instead of the picture of T P Rajeevan, juxtaposing the photos of both. The fortnightly had also revealed that the photo was received from police source.

But in his native village, damage was already done to his reputation by the local evening dailies which reproduced the picture from and splashed it across the frontpage. But when the fortnightly published the correction, most of the local papers ignored it, creating the impression that C K Rajeevan was the brain behind the murder attempt.

``Even today many people in my village stare me in the face as if I were the culprit because they are yet to forget the photo'', says Rajeevan.

While working as a jeep driver Rajeevan had given Rs 45,000 to his friend Vinod to get him a visa. The visa was given but it was a forged one. The Saudi Arabian officials put him in the airport lock-up for two days and sent him back on a return flight.

Rajeevan landed at Thiruvananthapuram on March 27, 1995, and rang up Vinod to tell his experience. He came to Thiruvananthapuram and arranged his stay in a local hotel. He assured Rajeevan that another visa would be arranged for him soon and introduced him to a travel agency. He also assured him that he would soon get back his passport seized by the airport authorities.

After a few days Vinod told him that his new visa was ready and askedhim to get eight passport size photos. He gave the photos and after a few days police came to his room and asked him why he was staying there. According to him, the police were then on their toes frantically searching for the accused in the Jayarajan murder attempt case. But he did not know anything about it then.

Because of the police harassment Rajeevan came back to his native village and was horrified to see his photo -- the same photo he had handed over to his friend Vinod -- published in the fortnightly. When some of the local dailies reproduced the report he went into hiding fearing political reprisals. Meanwhile, the police also came to his house for his version of the story but they could not find him. This deepened the suspicion of the local people.

But Rajeevan's relatives managed to get acorrection in CPM daily Deshabhimani. The paper carried his photo on front page along with a banner headline story on the murder attempt case. ``But the picture produced negative result because most of thereaders did not read the correction'', says Rajeevan.

Rajeevan is yet to get back the money he had given for the visa despite the humiliation he had suffered. The police still harass him on the counter petition filed by Vinod's father that Rajeevan had forcibly made him sign an undertaking that he would pay back the money.

Driven to the wall, Rajeevan is planning to move the National Human Rights Commission.