On Saturday, December 28, the CBI court in Kochi convicted 14 CPI(M) members in the twin murders of Indian Youth Congress workers Kripesh and Sarathlal, who were brutally killed in Periya, Kasaragod, in February 2019.
The twin murders of Indian Youth Congress workers, just two months before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, sent shockwaves through Kerala. While the state police initially investigated the political killings, the victims’ families sought a CBI probe by approaching the high court.
Those convicted include former Uduma MLA K.V. Kunhiraman, a member of the CPI(M) Kasaragod district secretariat, A.P. Peethambaran from the CPI(M) Periya local committee, Kanhangad block panchayat member K. Manikandan, former local committee secretary N. Balakrishnan, and local leaders Raghavan Velutholly and Saji George.
The CPI(M) maintained that its members were uninvolved and strongly opposed the CBI investigation. However, in October 2019, the high court handed over the case to the CBI, dismissing the state police’s charge sheet. The court criticized the investigating officer for conducting an inadequate investigation, accepting the version of the prime accused “as the gospel truth,” and failing to consult the forensic surgeon regarding the weapons used in the crime, which undermined the probe.
Former CPI(M) legislator K.V. Kunhiraman was named an accused after the CBI took over, with findings suggesting he had aided the assailants after the murders. In December 2021, the state government’s attempt to challenge the CBI probe in the Supreme Court was dismissed.
