15 former PFI workers found guilty in BJP leader Ranjith Sreenivasan's murder; verdict on Monday

MAVELIKARA: All the 15 accused in the murder of BJP leader Ranjith Srinivasan in Alappuzha were found guilty by the court on Saturday. The first eight accused namely Nizam, Ajmal, Anoop, Muhammad Aslam, Salam Ponnad, Abdul Salam, Safaruddin and Manshad were found guilty of murder.

Accused 13, 14 and 15 Zakir Hussain, Shaji Poovathinkal and Shernath Ashraf have been charged with criminal conspiracy. Mavelikara Additional Sessions Judge VG Sridevi will deliver the verdict on Monday. All the accused were members of the banned SDPI-Popular Front.

On December 19, 2021, Ranjith Srinivasan was hacked to death in front of his mother, wife and daughter by the PFI gang after they barged into his house near Vellakkinar, Alappuzha. The attack was deemed as revenge taken for the murder of SDPI State Secretary KS Shan who was brutally hacked to death on December 18 of the same year at Mannancherry, Alappuzha.

NR Jayaraj, who was DySP Alappuzha, completed the investigation and examined 156 witnesses from the prosecution side in the case in which the charge sheet was filed. About a thousand documents and more than a hundred pieces of evidence were produced. The prosecution also relied on evidence like fingerprints, scientific evidence, CCTV footage and route maps prepared with the help of Google Maps.