Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 6 (IANS): CPI-M leader M.M. Mani Wednesday failed to appear before a police team probing his audacious claims that his party had murdered four political foes.

A Special Investigation Team (SIT) last week asked Mani to appear before it Wednesday. As he was not available at his residence, the notice was pasted at his home and the party office in Idukki.

SIT chief B. Prakash told reporters that Mani's counsel gave police a letter saying Mani did not appear before police as he had filed a petition in the Kerala High Court.

Mani has urged the high court to quash the First Information Report filed last month by police against him.

Prakash said: "The investigation will go ahead."

Mani, the Idukki district secretary of the Communist Party of India-Marxist, triggered a storm when he claimed May 25 that his party murdered four critics, presumably in the 1980s.

Following his speech, the Kerala Police charged him with murder.

Three of the four cases mentioned by Mani were dismissed earlier for want of evidence. These cases are being reopened.