15 found guilty in Kerala BJP leader Ranjith Sreenivas murder case
The Hindu
15 accused convicted for the murder of BJP leader Ranjith Sreenivas; punishment to be announced on Monday.
The Mavelikara Additional District Session Court-I on Saturday convicted 15 accused in connection with the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ranjith Sreenivas.
Judge Sreedevi V.G. found Naisam, Ajmal, Anoop, Mohammed Aslam, Abdul Kalam alias Salam, Abdul Kalam, Saffaruddin, Manshad, Jaseeb Raja, Navas, Sameer, Nazir, Abdul Kalam, Zakir Hussain, Shaji and Shernas Ashraf guilty of the crime. The first eight accused, who took part in the killing, were found guilty under Section 302 (punishment for murder). The quantum of punishment will be announced on Monday.
The prosecution case was that Sreenivas, who was the State secretary of the BJP’s OBC Morcha and a lawyer, was hacked to death by the accused belonging to the Popular Front of India and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in his house at Vellakinar in Alappuzha municipality on December 19, 2021. He was murdered in front of his mother, wife and daughter.
According to the chargesheet, the killing of Sreenivas was a retaliatory strike to avenge the murder of SDPI’s State secretary K.S. Shan the night before. The case was investigated by a special team led by Alappuzha DySP N.R. Jayaraj. Special Public Prosecutor Prathap G. Padickkal and advocates Sreedevi Prathap, Shilpa Sivan and Hareesh Kattoor represented the prosecution side.
As many as 156 prosecution witnesses in the case recorded their statements before the judge. The prosecution had submitted around 1,000 documents and 100 material objects in the court in connection with the case. Earlier, the trial in the case was transferred to the Mavelikara court from Alappuzha based on a High Court order. The High Court moved the case considering a plea filed by the accused seeking to transfer the trial to another district.
The family of Sreenivas welcomed the court verdict. Meanwhile, the trial in the Shan murder case has not yet begun.
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