In a blow to Kerala's ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPM], often accused of nurturing a culture of political violence, a special CBI court in Kochi convicted 14 party supporters — ranging from branch committee workers to district secretariat leaders — in the double murder of Youth Congress workers Kripesh (21) and Sarathlal P K (24).

Those convicted on Saturday include former Udma MLA K V Kunhiraman, a member of the CPM's District Secretariat, the highest decision-making body of the party in Kasaragod, and K Manikandan, Kanhangad Block panchayat president and CPM's Kasaragod District Committee member.

Kunhiraman, also the President of the District Library Council, was in line to become the next District Secretary of the CPM, and Manikandan was groomed by the party to be a future MLA. They will be sentenced on January 3.

Of the 24 accused in the sensational murders that rocked Kerala ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha election, CBI Special Court Judge Seshadrinathan N acquitted 10 of all charges levelled against them. They were primarily accused of taking part in the conspiracy to murder the two popular Congress workers, arranging logistics, harbouring the accused, and destroying evidence.

Two types of conviction
The judge convicted all eight persons accused of being part of the hit team, led by A Peethambaran, a member of CPM's Periya Local Committee. The party removed him from the post after he was arrested soon after the murders.

The court found Accused No. 1 to 8 and 11 and 14 guilty of murder and conspiracy under Section 302 and Section 120 B of IPC.

They are Peethambaran A (A1), Saji C George, Suresh K M, Anil Kumar K alias Abu, Gijin, Sreerag R, Aswin A alias Appu, and CITU worker Subeesh (A8), Pradeep alias Kuttan (A11) and A Surendran alias Vishnu Sura (A15).

Ex-MLA convicted of rescuing accused
In the second set of convictions, K V Kunhiraman (A20), K Manikandan (A14), Raghavan Velutholy (former Pakkam local secretary and ex-district president of the CPM's traders' wing, Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Samithi), and K V Bhaskaran (retired secretary of the CPM-controlled Panayal Service Cooperative Bank) were found guilty of forcibly rescuing a murder suspect from police custody.

The court convicted them under Section 225 of the IPC, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years. Since they were out on bail, the court allowed them to remain free by executing a bond until January 3, when their sentences will be pronounced, according to their advocate, C K Sreedharan.

The CBI's investigation was led by CBI DySP T P Ananthakrishnan from Thiruvananthapuram and the prosecution team was led by Bobby Joseph Y.

According to the CBI, the former MLA and CPM District Secretariat member K V Kunhiraman (A20), K Manikandan (A14), Raghavan (A21), and Bhaskaran (A22) rescued accused no. 2 Saji C George from the custody of Bekal police on the intervening night of February 18 and 19. Prosecutor Bobby Joseph told the court that Bekal police had detained Saji George and kept him in a police jeep at Pakom-Cherootta forest area. But the four accused, led by Kunhiraman, forcibly recused Saji George from police custody.

"The CBI's main theory of conspiracy had collapsed with the acquittal of 10 accused, six of them charged by the central agency," ace criminal lawyer C K Sreedharan told Onmanorama. He represented nine accused, including the top guns of the CPM. Eight of them were convicted.

The CBI's prosecution team told Onmanorama that the acquittals were because the witnesses to prove conspiracy and harbouring of the accused turned hostile.

Main accused never got bail
Those acquitted by the Special CBI court are Murali A (A9), Ranjith T (10), CITU worker Manikandan B alias Alakode Mani (A12), CPM Periya Local Secretary Balakrishnan N (A13), Ssatha Madhu (A16), paternal uncle of Gijin (A5), trader Regi Varghese (A17), Hariprasad A (A18), an employee of a CPM-run cooperative bank, Rajesh P alias Raju (A19), CPM's Echiladukkam branch secretary, and accused 23 and 24, Gopa Kumar V and Sandeep P V.

According to the CBI, Gopa Kumar and Sandeep helped accused No. 8 Subeesh escape abroad. The rest were charged with burning clothes worn by the accused, arranging logistics for their escape after the crime and keeping a watch on the movement of the victims, Kripesh and Sarathlal, on the day they were killed.

Sixteen of the 24 accused who were arrested remained in prison throughout the trial. Though several applications were moved by accused no. 1 to 11 and accused no. 15 to 19, the trial court and the High Court of Kerala rejected them.

With the acquittal, Murali A (A9), Ranjith T (A10), Madhu Sastha (A16), Regi Varghese (A17), Hariprasad A (A18), Rajesh P alias Raju (A19) would walk out of the prison after nearly six years.