Kannur: The sloganeering before the Kannur central prison and the visits by CPM leaders to the houses of party workers and leaders convicted in the killings of Youth Congress workers Kripesh and Sarathlal bolstered the view that the CPM planned and executed the double murder, said senior Congress leader K Muraleedhran.

He was speaking to the media after paying floral tributes at the memorial of the slain Youth Congress workers and visiting their families at Kalliyot near Periya on Monday.

"Not just the murders of Kripesh and Sarathlal. With yesterday's incident, it is clear that CPM State Committee member P Jayarajan and other CPM people were also behind the murder of (RMP leader) T P Chandrasekharan.

"P Jayarajan was punished in the people's court. There is no doubt that he will also be punished in the court of law," Muraleedhran said, referring to the 2019 Lok Sabha election in Vadakara, where he defeated Jayarajan by 84,633 votes.

“What they showed yesterday (January 5) was totally against democracy,” said the Congress leader.

On Sunday, 10 CPM workers convicted in the double murder of Kripesh (21) and Sarathlal P K (24) and four top CPM leaders, including former MLA K V Kunhiraman, convicted for rescuing an accused from police custody were shifted to Central Prison & Correctional Home in Kannur amid CPM's show of solidarity.

The Special CBI court agreed to the convicts' request to be shifted to the Kannur prison as they are from the Kasargod district.

A bus with nine convicts from Viyyur in Thrissur reached Kannur around 3:30 pm. They proudly entered the prison without any fanfare. The first batch included A Peethambaran, Saji C George, KM Suresh, K Anilkumar, Jijin, Sreerag, A Ashwin, Subeesh, and Ranjith T.

Around 4.30 pm, another vehicle with five more convicts arrived from the Ernakulam District Jail at Kakkanad. That vehicle had CPM Kasaragod District Secretariat member and two-time former MLA from Udma K V Kunhiraman (62); Kanhangad Block Panchayat President and CPM's Kasaragod District Committee member K Manikandan (45); CPM's former Local Committee Secretary of Pakkam near Bekal Raghavan Velutholy (54); K V Bhaskaran (58), retired secretary of the CPM-controlled Panayal Service Cooperative Bank; and A Surendran alias Vishnu Sura.

Before the vehicles arrived, the convicts' family members and several CPM supporters from Periya had gathered in front of the prison.

When their vehicle arrived at Kannur prison from Ernakulam, CPM supporters, including men and women, started raising slogans.

"No, no! No going back!
March ahead with courage.
Salutations, a thousand salutations,
Inquilab Zindabad!
Lal Salam, Lal Salam!" they shouted as the convicted entered the prison.

Jayarajan, a former Kannur district chief of the CPM, stayed behind the crowd but later entered the prison and met the convicts.

Later, he told the reporters waiting outside that he had met five convicted comrades, including KV Kunhiraman, and had given them his book 'Keralam: Muslim Rashtreeyam Rashtreeya Islam' (Kerala: Muslim Politics, Political Islam). I gave them one of my books to read while in jail. A prison life for communists is one where they engage in reading. Showing jail cells to communists will not intimidate them," he said.

He then said: "All types of political killings and assault should be ended. There should be peace in society. In the past eight and a half years, when the LDF has been governing Kerala, there have been no communal clashes. Kerala has a peaceful atmosphere, and that atmosphere should be protected. There should be no conflicts."

Those who have been convicted in the Periya double murder case have the option to appeal the verdict, he said.

Around the same time the convicts were shifted to Kannur Prison, CPM's top leaders, including Kasaragod District Secretary M V Balakrishnan, Udma MLA C H Kunhambu, Trikaripur MLA M Rajagopalan, and District Panchayat President Baby Balakrishnan visited the houses of the 14 convicts and expressed solidarity with their families.

Notable, the leaders did not visit the houses of the slain Youth Congress workers Kripesh and Sarathlal.

Sarathlal's father Satyanarayanan accused the CPM of sheltering convicts and turning a blind eye to justice. "Jail is like heaven for Periya criminals," he said.

Kripesh's father Krishnan criticised CPM for treating the convicts like freedom fighters.

Kasaragod MP Rajmohan Unnithan said the CPM's actions proved its role in the double murders.

Muraleedharan said the Congress has decided to appeal against the 10 acquittals and also move the higher court against the "lighter sentencing" for the convicts.