ALAPPUZHA: The Mavelikara Additional District Session Court-I on Saturday found 15 accused guilty in the murder of BJP leader Ranjith Sreenivas.
The convicts belong to PFI and its political arm SDPI.
Judge Sreedevi V convicted the 15 accused, namely, Naisam, Ajmal, Anoop, Mohammed Aslam, Abdul Kalam alias Salam, Abdul Kalam, Saffaruddin, Manshad, Jaseeb Raja, Navas, Sameer, Nazir, Abdul Kalam, Zakir Hussain, Shaji and Shernas Ashraf.
The first eight accused, who took part in the murder, were found guilty under Section 302 (punishment for murder), 149 (unlawful assembly), 449 (house-trespass to commit offence punishable with death), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 341 (wrongful restraint) of IPC.
The accused nine to 12 who stood guard outside the BJP leader’s house with deadly weapons during the murder were convicted under Sections 302 and 447 (criminal trespass) of IPC.
Zakir (13th accused), Shaji (14th accused) and Shernas (15th accused), the key conspirators in the case, were found guilty under Sections 120 (criminal conspiracy) and 302 of IPC. The court will pronounce the quantum of sentence on Monday.
According to the prosecution, BJP OBC Morcha state secretary and lawyer Sreenivas was hacked to death by the accused in the victim’s house at Vellakinar in Alappuzha municipality in front of his mother, wife and daughter. The crime took place on December 19, 2021.
According to the charge sheet, Sreenivas was murdered in retaliation to the murder of SDPI state secretary K S Shan. A special team led by Alappuzha DySP N R Jayaraj investigated the case and arrested the accused. Special public prosecutor Prathap G Padickkal and advocates Sreedevi Prathap, Shilpa Sivan and Hareesh Kattoor represented the prosecution. There were 156 prosecution witnesses in the case.
The prosecution produced around 1,000 documents and 100 material objects in the court in connection with the case.
The trial in the case was transferred from Alappuzha to Mavelikara Court based on a High Court order. The High Court transferred the case considering a plea filed by the accused seeking to transfer the trial to another district.