KOCHI : In a setback to the CPM, the Kerala High Court on Monday upheld the life imprisonment awarded to 10 accused, including party’s local leaders, for the brutal murder of RMP leader TP Chandrasekharan at Onchiam in 2012. The court also decided to examine the plea to enhance the sentence to capital punishment on February 26.
The court began the judgment quoting the words of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen—“Democracy thrives on the peaceful exchange of ideas, not the violent imposition of beliefs. Political violence is the poison that corrodes the roots of democratic principles.”
On the morning of May 5, 2012, the people of Kerala woke up to the grim news of a gruesome political murder, the court said. The wounds inflicted on him were so brutal and numerous that the police surgeon, who conducted the postmortem, opined that it was indicative of the aggressive and hostile nature of the assailants, pointed out the court.
A division bench comprising Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Kauser Edappagath upheld the life imprisonment awarded by the Kozhikode Additional Sessions Court to the accused, from numbers 1 to 8 (M C Anoop, Manoj Kumar alias Kirmani Manoj, N K Sunil Kumar alias Kodi Suni, Rajeesh Thundikandi, K K Mohammed Shafi, S Sijith alias Annan Sijith, K Shinoj, and K C Ramachandran, then CPM Kunnummakkara local committee member); 11th accused Manojan alias Trouser Manojan, former CPM Kadungapoyil branch secretary; and 13th accused, the late P K Kunhananthan, former CPM Panoor area committee member.
The bench also set aside the order acquitting the 10th accused, K K Krishnan, former CPM Onchiyam area committee member, and 12th accused, Geothi Babu, and convicted them under section 120 B (Criminal Conspiracy). Further, the court confirmed the acquittal of 22 accused, including CPM leader P Mohanan Master.
The court passed the order while dismissing the appeals filed by the convicted persons against the session’s court order. According to their appeals, the case had been falsely foisted on them and they were convicted based on false evidence and false witness statements.
T P Chandrasekharan was hacked to death by a gang on May 4, 2012, while he was returning home on his bike. As per the prosecution case, the first accused, Anoop, rammed an Innova car into his bike, throwing Chandrasekharan to the road. Immediately, accused 2 to 7 got out of the car and attacked him with swords and hacked him to death. Kodi Suni exploded a country-made bomb to scare away onlookers from reaching the spot. The ninth accused, C H Asokan, died during the period of the trial of the case. Kunhananthan died in June 2020 when the appeal was pending in the HC.
High Court findings and directives
HC directs the jail superintendents of Kannur and Tavanur prisons to produce accused 1 to 8 and 11th before the court at 10.15am on February 26 for hearing on plea seeking to enhance sentence and compensation.
Court sets aside order acquitting 10th accused K K Krishnan and 12th accused Geothi Babu and convicts them under section 120 B (Criminal Conspiracy). Registry asked to issue non-bailable warrants for their immediate arrest and production before trial court.
Apart from the charges under which they were found guilty by trial court, HC convicted Anoop, Kirmani Manoj, Kodi Suni, Rajeesh Thundikandi, Mohammed Shafi and Shinoj guilty under section 120 B (Criminal Conspiracy) read with 302 (murder) as well