KANNUR: He too walked to freedom on Saturday morning. CPM worker Acharaparambath Pradeepan, who was the lone convict undergoing life-imprisonment in the Jayakrishnan murder case, was released early Saturday morning from the Kannur Central Prison. He came out on the basis of the state government’s decision to release the prisoners who have completed 10 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Pradeepan was one among the five, who were sentenced to death by the court in the murder case of Yuva Morcha leader KT Jayakrishnan. As the five convicts whose death sentences were confirmed by the High Court of Kerala lived in the shadow of the gallows at the Kannur Central Prison, the CPM launched an unprecedented legal battle mobilising more than Rs 1 crore and hiring the best legal brains in the country.
The CPM won the battle but sustained a minor injury as the Supreme Court acquitted four of the accused in the case while commuting the death sentence of Pradeepan to life in prison on the basis of an appeal filed with the support of the party.
And that was how the hardcore CPM activist Pradeepan, happened to remain in jail. Of the 209 prisoners released by the government on Saturday, 39 belonged to the Kannur Central Prison.
An attempt had been made earlier by the government to release Pradeepan even before he completed 10 years of imprisonment. But this was objected to by the mother of K T Jayakrishnan. A petition filed by her in the High Court in this connection was reportedly withdrawn later.
Incidentally, among the convicts released on Saturday was a prisoner accused in the murder of CPM prisoner K P Ravindran, a native of Nadapuram. This shocking murder had taken place in the confines of the prison.With the release of the last of the convicts in the sensational Jayakrishnan murder case that rocked the state more than 10 years ago, another eventful chapter of political killings and counter-killings in this part of the state have come to a close.