The Collector had taken custody of the mosque from where the police had seized lethal weapons. But, the commission noted, he allowed Muslim League leader E Ahmed, then an MP and now Minister of State for External Affairs, to enter the mosque and offer prayers, even as an explosive situation prevailed in the area.

• The commission dismissed as ‘‘untrue’’ the Collector’s deposition that intelligence officials had not alerted him about the possibility of violence.

• The commission has taken a serious note of the deposition of state DGP K J Joseph, that the then Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kozhikode) Abdul Rahim “failed to investigate and take prompt action in Marad.’’ The DGP deposed that Rahim not only ‘‘hid the truth from his superior officers’’ but also tried to establish that the key accused in the massacre on the beach on May 2, 2003 were not guilty.

• The report talks about the presence of extremist outfits with foreign links operating in Kerala, and slams the current and previous state Governments for their failure to take any effective action against these elements, being ‘‘interested only in the vote banks.’’

The commission has asserted that there was a much larger conspiracy than what the police crime branch has revealed in Marad, and it must be probed.

What happened in sleepy Marad

• On Jan 3, 2002 a couple of Hindus and 3 Muslims were killed after a trivial altercation over drinking water.

• No chargesheet filed for over a year

... contd.