Kasaragod: The police have managed to establish the sequence of events just before and after the Periya double murder after analysing the statements of the arrested suspects. Only one among the eight suspects is still absconding. The arrested are: Peethambaran, his friend Saji George, Suresh, Gijin, Anil, Sreerag and Ashwin. The gang of CPM activists had hacked to death Youth Congress workers Kripesh and Sharathlal on Sunday.
* Prime accused Peethambaran had planned the vendetta attack together with his friend Saji after the former sustained injuries in an attack allegedly by Congress activists.
* Sharathlal’s movements were being monitored since he was the target. The gang received the message on February 17 that he had left an event venue.
* The gang waited in a rubber plantation near Kalliyat school. Vehicles to flee scene after murder were on standby.
* The gang pounced on Kripesh and Sharathlal’s bike as it approached. Sharathlal identified the gang members and tried to speed off. A kick to the bike made it tip over towards KM Suresh, another arrested accused in the case. Suresh swung a sword and injured Kripesh.
* A fatally wounded Kripesh ran from the scene in pain. The gang then turned to Sharathlal. The handle of the sword came off and injured Suresh’s right palm as he kept swinging it. They hacked Sarathlal many times and left. Most weapons were discarded in a dry well. But one of them kept his new weapon. He discarded it later at another location. The police are yet to retrieve it.
* The assailants got on to three different vehicles and left for different locations. Saji’s vehicle carried three, while other two vehicles carried two each.
* They reached Velutholi, a party stronghold, first and then another, where they received legal advice on statements to be given to police.
* The police have seized Saji’s vehicle which was found abandoned. (Saji, absolving himself of murder, had told media he merely drove the vehicle. A suspect in five other cases, Saji has been involved in political ruckus earlier too. The tile businessman is a long-time friend of Peethambaran)
Efforts to arrest Saji were scuttled by party members. He surrendered on February 19, a day after his friend and prime accused in the case A Peethambaran was taken in by the cops.
* The bike found at the crime scene belongs to someone from Echiladukka, Kannur. Another jeep is also under police scanner.
The probe into the Periya twin murder case was handed over to the Crime Branch from the local police on Thursday. Though the family of the slain Youth Congress workers as well as the Congress party had requested for an investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the change in the investigation agency was unlikely.
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