|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Kerala. The Thalassery Principal Sessions Court has sentenced eight CPM workers to life imprisonment and another to three years in prison for the murder of Muzhappilangad Sooraj in 2005, who left CPM to join the BJP. The court delivered its verdict on March 24.
Among those sentenced to life imprisonment are Manoraj Narayanan, brother of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s Press Secretary PM Manoj, and TK Rajeesh, an accused in the TP Chandrasekharan murder case. The eleventh accused, Pradeep, was given a three-year sentence.
The murder took place on 7 August 2005. Sooraj was killed for leaving the CPM and joining the BJP. Five of the accused were found guilty of murder, while conspiracy charges were proven against four others. Sooraj had been attacked six months prior to his murder. His leg was seriously injured, leaving him bedridden for about six months. When he finally recovered and came out after treatment, he was killed. He was 32 years old at the time.
Initially, a case was registered against ten accused. However, two more were added based on the statement of TK Rajeesh, an accused in the TP Chandrasekharan murder.
Manoraj Narayanan was one of the two additional accused. The first accused, PK Shamsudheen, and the twelfth accused, TP Raveendran, had died earlier.
The court found that the second to sixth accused were directly involved in the murder, whereas the seventh to ninth accused participated in the conspiracy.
Recently, CPM Kannur district secretary MV Jayarajan claimed that the accused found guilty by the court were innocent. He stated that all, including TK Rajeesh, had been charge-sheeted deliberately. He added that if innocent party cadres were punished, the party would file an appeal. The CPM maintains that all the accused are innocent.
TP Chandrasekharan was a rebel CPM leader from Onchiyam, Kozhikode district. He was killed on May 4, 2012. All the accused and those found guilty in connection with his murder are CPM cadres.
Since 1969, hundreds of RSS workers have been killed in CPM attacks in Kannur district alone, with Vadakkal Ramakrishnan being the first victim on 28 April 1969.
