'Sacrificial chicken of Kalliyot': How CPM activists sketched Kripesh, Sarathlal for murder

Kasaragod: Kripesh, one of the victims in the Periya murder case, was found dead with a 13.5 cm long and 2 cm deep chop wound on the top of his head, extending from the front to the back. Sarathlal P K, another victim, sustained 20 wounds, including multiple deep cuts on his head, neck, shoulders, arms, legs, and feet.

The two Youth Congress workers from Kalliyot in Kasaragod's Periya village were hacked to death by CPM workers on February 17, 2019. Six years later, a special CBI court in Kochi awarded double life sentences to 10 CPM workers and handed out five-year jail terms to four top CPM leaders.

A reading of Judge Seshadrinathan's 307-page judgment reveals how CPM activists painted targets on the backs of Kripesh, popularly known as Kichu, and Sarathlal, known as Joshy, in the months leading up to their brutal murders.

A Facebook page run by CPM supporters, 'Periya Sakhakkal,' posted Kripesh's photo with the caption 'The sacrificial chicken of Kalliyot,' his sister Krishnapriya testified, identifying the screenshot of the post in court. She told the court that Kripesh showed her several screenshots of CPM activists threatening him.

Krishnapriya said the seventh accused, Aswin A, posted a photo of Kripesh on Facebook with the caption: "He is ready to die. Here, everyone is set".

Accused No. 9, Murali A, posted a four-page message on Facebook with the words: "He will not have another Vishu." However, Murali was acquitted by the court due to lack of evidence.

Kripesh's cousin, Akhilesh, a CPM supporter, shared similar concerns. He testified in court that he sensed an imminent threat to Kripesh and urged the CPM workers to back off. He mentioned that following his post, which read, "My brother is facing threats, drop that," conciliation talks were initiated. But in the meeting, CPM activists abused him and warned him saying "Status (messages) against CPM is not allowed".

During the meeting, accused no. 5 Gijin (32), a civil contractor and son of Sastha Gangadharan, a CPM funder, walked up to Akhilesh and said that if CPM supporters wanted to live in Kalliyot, Joshy (Sarathlal) must be eliminated.

Gijin asked Akhilesh to tell Kripesh not to be in the company of Sarathlal. Akhilesh told the court that the meeting was attended by the first accused Peethambaran, and Gijin's uncle Sastha Madhu, the 16th accused who was acquitted by the CBI court.

SFI's intolerance at root
The CPM supporters' hostility towards Sarathlal and Kripesh, who always hung out together, stemmed from the fact the duo took up the cause of KSU activists at People's Co-Operative Arts and Science College at Munnad, a CPM bastion in Kasaragod's Bedadka panchayat.

The campus saw skirmishes primarily because of SFI's intolerance towards other student organisations. When Congress's Kerala Students' Union (KSU) put up resistance, they were thrashed. Kripesh and Sarathlal took up the KSU's fight, and their involvement drew in CPM workers led by A Peethambaran, then a member of CPM's Periya Local Committee, into the conflict.

On January 5, 2019, Sarathlal and a group of eight Youth Congress workers reportedly confronted Peethambaran and Surendran alias Vishnu Sura (50), the 15th accused, as they were returning from Munnad College.

During the altercation at Kalliyot, Sarathlal was said to have twisted Peethambaran's arm, causing an injury, while Vishnu Sura was also hurt. Sarathlal and his accomplices were remanded to judicial custody for nearly three weeks in the incident.

During this period, Peethambaran and Vishnu Sura would barge into Congress supporters' houses and threaten their families. According to Prasanth, an accused in the January 5 incident, Peethambaran and Vishnu Sura threatened his mother with a knife after trespassing into his house on January 8, 2019. Peethambaran was convicted in that case, said the prosecution. The defence did not counter it.

The January 5 incident cast a lingering shadow of retaliation over Kalliyot. Gijin's cousin Navya put up a status on her phone on January 5, 2019, with photographs of nine persons accused of assaulting Peethambaran, and marking them with a red X. Sixth accused, Sreerag, a close associate of Peethambaran, also shared the same status.

Kalliyot resident Radha, who said Kripesh and Sarathlal were like her sons, told the court about an incident that happened at Kudubashree's neighbourhood meeting on February 10, 2019. "Lakshmi Omanakuttan told the members that there would be a strong retaliation because Peethambaran's arm was broken. A few members protested against what she said and walked out from the meeting," Radha told the court.

Kripesh's father P V Krishnan told the court that his son had to discontinue his education at the polytechnic because of constant threats from SFI activists, who were instigated by Peethambaran. Kripesh filed a complaint with Bekal police on the threats he was facing. Sarathlal filed a police complaint on the threats he faced on February 16, the day before the two were murdered.

Adv M K Baburajan, a Congress leader and family friend of Sarathlal, told the court that Sarathlal and Kripesh formed the 'Kalliyot Yuvajana Vadya Sangham', a percussion and wind instrument troupe to counter the AKG Vadya Kala Sangham established by Peethambaran at Echiladukkam.

"It has come out in evidence that 'Kalliyot Yuvajana Vadya Sangham’ earned fame and good reputation and they got large number of programmes, whereas 'AKG Yuvajana Kala Sangham' lost its students gradually and hence Peethambaran and his colleagues have got an axe to grind against Sarathlal and Kripesh on account of this," Judge Seshadrinathan noted in his judgment.

Adv Baburajan told the court that Kalliyot village planned a Perumkaliyattam in 2019 and as part of the grand Theyyam festival, the temple leaders wanted the bad blood between the CPM and the Congress workers to end. As chief coordinator of the festival, he approached Peethambaran (A1) with a request to take the initiative to settle the dispute once and for all.

As Vishnu Sura (A15), who was injured in the January 5 incident, was his relative, Baburajan met him in the hospital with the same request. He also met the then Udma MLA K Kunhiraman and other leaders. Temple committee president Krishnan met with the leaders of the CPM.

But as the attitude of Vishnu Sura was not positive, Baburajan advised Kripesh and Sarathlal to remain vigilant against retaliatory attacks. On February 17, 2019, the temple organised a massive event to pick a jumbo reception committee for the Perumkaliyattam.

Around 12,000 people thronged the temple grounds. Sarathlal and Kripesh played active roles throughout the event. Unknown to the two Youth Congress workers, the assailants had picked the same date to execute their threat.

Around 7.45 pm, when Sarathlal's sister Amritha and his paternal uncle Damodaran P K were returning home from a wedding reception in a jeep, they saw a man lying in a pool of blood on the roadside near Gijin's house. Amritha fainted on recognising he was her brother. Sarathlal was still alive.

Damodaran told the court that he asked him, "'Who did this to you? Did you see anyone?' Sarathlal murmured, 'Gijin, Gijin,' before closing his eyes."

Prosecutor Adv Bobby Joseph argued that the statement given by Sarathlal to Damodaran should be accepted as his dying declaration under Section 32 of the Indian Evidence Act.

The defence counsel argued that Sarathlal's last words to Damodaran cannot be accepted because they were "not his voluntary statement but given when a question was put to him". Gijin was represented by Adv Nicholas Joseph, a party counsel from Taliparamba. The judge dismissed the argument.

"This court can visualise the then mental state of affairs and health condition of Sarathlal when he was being shifted to the hospital by PW18 (Damodaran) and others. Under normal circumstances, no human being will endeavour to falsely implicate an innocent person as responsible for the crime by giving concession to the real culprit who attacked him," the court said.

The circumstantial, digital, scientific evidence also backed Sarathlal's statement, the court observed. "This court can safely conclude that there were constant threats against Kripesh and Sarathlal after the incident on January 5, 2019, and the unfortunate incident of February 17, 2019, was only a retaliation under the leadership of accused 1 to 8 with the able assistance of A10 and 15 who were alertly watching the movements of both Sarathlal and Kripesh to alert the hit team," the judgment said.

Damodaran testified in court that he had told the State Crime Branch's Malappuram Unit about Sarathlal's last words, but he was shocked to find that the DySP V M Pradeep Kumar had not recorded it.

He came to know of the omission only when the CBI officers read his old statement to him. B Pradeep Kumar, the District President of Youth Congress also told the court that the Crime Branch incorporated statements he did not say and omitted what he told them.

Betrayal by a friend
People in Kalliyot were shocked to find that Ranjith (A10) had betrayed Kripesh. Ranjith -- a school classmate of Sarathlal -- and Kripesh shared a deep bond despite their political differences, said their friends.

Both hailed from the same community and often participated in cultural traditions together, like the fire ritual for Pottan Theyyam in December 2018, a moment Ranjith shared on Facebook with Kripesh affectionately commenting, "Appu etta polichu," loosely translating to "You nailed it, bro."

Though Ranjith was a CPM supporter, he often spent time with Kripesh, who used to call him 'etta' (elder brother). On February 17, the day of the murders, Ranjith was with Kripesh and Sarath Lal all day, even having lunch together. "He could have just warned Kripesh if he couldn’t stand up for him," said a friend in disbelief.

The Call Detail Record (CDR) showed that Ranjith and Surendran called Sreerag (A6) and Peethambaran (A1), respectively, at 7.36 pm on February 17, 2019, possibly to inform them that Kripesh and Sarathlal had left Kalliyot junction.

The prosecution produced eyewitnesses who saw Ranjith hovering around Kripesh's house on his motorcycle earlier in the day, and later making the call. Within minutes of the call, several people heard cries and screams from near Gijin's house and Sarathlal and Kripesh were found brutally hacked.

The counsel for the defence argued that CDR and tower location details were tampered with and had no evidentiary value. The court overruled it, too.