Kasaragod: Forty-five days after 10 accused were sentenced to double life imprisonment for the murder of Youth Congress workers Kripesh and Sarathlal P K, two of them have applied for parole, and the Kannur Central Prison & Correctional Home has considered their application favourably.

Bekal Police said Kannur Central Prison Superintendent K Venu had asked them to submit a report on the parole applications filed by CITU worker A Subeesh alias Mani (33) and A Surendran alias Vishnu Sura (50), accused no. 8 and 15, respectively.

The news of their parole application broke out on the day the Congress and the families of Kripesh and Sarathlal were observing their sixth death anniversary at Kalliyot in Periya on Monday. Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar and other top Congress leaders were at Kalliyot to pay homage to the slain Youth Congress workers.

Six years ago, on February 17, 2019, Kripesh and Sarathlal were ambushed by a hit team of eight CPM workers led by local committee member A Peethambaran at Kannadipara in Kalliyot. After repeated stonewalling by the CPM-led state government for nearly two years, the CBI took over the case in December 2020.

On January 3, a special CBI court in Kochi sentenced 10 accused, including Peethambaran, to double life imprisonment for murder and conspiracy in the killings of the two Youth Congress workers.

The court also handed five-year prison terms to four top CPM leaders, including former Udma MLA and CPM's Kasaragod District Secretariat member K V Kunhiraman and Kanhangad Block Panchayat president and CPM District Committee member K Manikandan, for rescuing an accused from police custody. After the high court suspended their sentences following their appeal, they were released from prison.

However, the 10 convicts remained lodged in Kannur Central Prison. According to Manorama News, Central Prison Superintendent Venu said Subeesh and Surendran were eligible to apply for parole because they had been in prison since their arrest.

Surendran had been in prison since his arrest by the CBI on December 1, 2021. Subeesh had been in prison for nearly six years since his surrender on May 16, 2019.

Calls made to Superintendent Venu went unanswered. But going by the superintendent's logic, all 10 convicts serving life imprisonment were eligible for parole because they were not given bail during the trial, though some of them spent some time in Kannur Ayurveda Hospital without informing the court. Yet only Subeesh and Surendran applied for parole.

Subeesh played an intriguing role in the double murder. He was the only accused named as a "hired assassin" among the eight hitmen by the Crime Branch. However, soon after the murder, he fled to Sharjah.

The Crime Branch did not investigate how he managed to escape to Sharjah. The CBI also did not go after those who harboured him but charged two persons with helping Subeesh flee. The CBI court acquitted the two for lack of evidence.

Though Surendran was not part of the hit team, he was convicted of murder and conspiracy after the prosecution team of the CBI proved in court that he was tracking the movements of the two Youth Congress workers on the fateful day and informing the hit team.