KOCHI: Welcoming the High Court verdict upholding life imprisonment awarded to convicts, including CPM leaders, in the TP Chandrasekharan murder case, the slain RMP leader’s wife K K Rema MLA said the fight will continue till all culprits, including CPM Kozhikode district secretary P Mohanan, are brought before the law.
“This is a good judgment. The HC upheld whatever we said and the trial court’s verdict. TP was murdered by the CPM for airing his views. The High Court verdict makes it clear that CPM managed the killing,” she told reporters in Kochi.
She said that arraigning K K Krishnan, a former member of the CPM Onchiyam area committee, in the case has once again established the involvement of CPM leaders in the crime. “Intense financial and political influence were brought to bear on this case. CPM Kozhikode district secretariat member M Bhaskaran had been monitoring the case for the last five months and he was in the HC for every sitting. It was clear the CPM was trying to chart of coarse of the case to ensure the release of all the accused. This verdict is a warning to all those who plot political murders to silence differing opinions,” she said.
Advocate S Rajeev, who represented Rema, reiterated that the verdict is an indictment of political killings. “The HC will consider enhancing sentences awarded to the accused on February 26 and has directed jail authorities to produce the accused on the day,” he added.
P Kumarankutty, the special prosecutor, said it would have been rare for a court to hear appeals for nearly five months. “The court examined even minute details in deciding the case.”