KASARGOD: The family members of Kripesh and Sarath Lal staged a sit-in in front of the office of the CBI in Kochi on Monday protesting against the investigating agency’s reluctance to probe the double murder case.The protest was attended by Kripesh’s parents Balamani and Krishna, elder sister Priya and younger sister Krishnapriya; and Sarath Lal’s parents Latha P and Sathyanarayanan P K and his sister Amruta.
The families said they came to Kochi to demand justice for their children. “The CBI was asked to take up the case by the Kerala High Court, but the agency is not investigating the case,” said Sathyanarayanan. On September 30, 2019, the single bench of the Kerala High Court quashed the chargesheet filed by the Kerala Police’s Crime Branch saying it would lead to the acquittal of the accused and transferred the case to the CBI.
However, on October 31, 2019, the state government appealed against the CBI investigation before the division bench. “The division bench agreed to hear the appeal but did not stay the single bench order, but the CBI was not investigating the case,” he said. “Also, the hearing the division bench got over three months ago, but it was not giving a verdict forcing us to come to Kochi,” said Sarath Lal’s father.
He said more than protest, the family members wanted to wake up the authorities to their plight. “The speech by the local secretary comparing the murderers to that of Sri Krishna has only strengthened our resolve,” he said.