Two years after the murder of BJP leader Ranjith Sreenivasan, an Additional Sessions Court in Kerala convicted 15 members of the radical Islamist outfit Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) guilty in connection to the case.
The verdict was delivered on Saturday (20th January). The court found 8 members of SDPI, the political wing of the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI), guilty of murder while 7 others were convicted for other offences including conspiracy.
Eight of the accused men who were found guilty of murder include Nizam, Muhammad Aslam, Salam Ponnad, Abdul Salam, Safaruddin, Ajmal, Anoop, and Manshad. The quantum of punishment will be declared on Monday (22nd January).
The Background of the Case
On 19th December, BJP leader Ranjith Sreenivasan was murdered at his residence by SDPI workers. The incident took place in the Alappuzha district of Kerala.
The perpetrators broke into his house in the wee hours of the morning and hacked him to death. Ranjith Sreenivasan He was a member of BJP Kerala committee and OBC Morcha (State) Secretary.
He had contested as a BJP candidate from the Alappuzha constituency in 2016. The BJP leader was an advocate by occupation.
Following the incident, Section 144 (prohibit the gathering of four or more people in an area) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was imposed in the Alappuzha district to prevent any untoward incident.
The 2021 murder occurred hours after a state-level SDPI leader K S Shan was killed in the same district.