High Court upholds conviction of accused in T P Chandrasekharan murder case; sets aside acquittal of two accused

KOCHI: In a severe blow to the accused, the Kerala High Court on Monday upheld the verdict of the trial court in the TP Chandrasekharan murder case. The court rejected the plea filed by the accused seeking acquittal in the case. The high court cancelled the act of the trial court acquitting two accused identified as K K Krishnan and Jyothi Babu in the case. The plea was considered by the division bench led by Justice A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Justice Dr Kauser Edappagath. The court directed all accused to appear in the court on February 26.

Krishnan and Jyothi Babu were acquitted due to lack of evidence. The high court directed the two to appear on February 26th. The punishment for the two will be pronounced on that day.

The high court also upheld the punishment of P K Kunjananthan, who was a member of the CPM Pannur area committee. Kunjananthan died in June 2020 while serving the sentence in the case. Meantime, the court upheld the acquittal of CPM Kozhikode district secretary P Mohanan.

The first five accused and 7th accused were additionally charged with the charge of conspiracy. The trial court had earlier dropped the charge of conspiracy against the accused. The court also dropped Vazhappadachi Rafiq's conspiracy charge was dropped.

T P Chandrasekharan's wife and MLA K K Rema responded that it was the best verdict. The court verdict to punish two more accused brings relief. CPM's role has been exposed more. She added that she would appeal against the acquittal of P Mohanan.

12 convicts who have been convicted appealed to be acquitted. The prosecution sought maximum punishment for the accused and Rema appealed against the acquittal of those including P Mohanan.

TP was murdered on May 4 in 2012 at Onchiyam near Vadakara. A group first bombed the area and then killed him. The case is that the accused took revenge against him for leaving the CPM and forming the RMP party.

The trial court sentenced M C Anoop, Kirmani Manoj, Kodi Suni, T K Rajeesh, Muhammad Shafi, Annan Sijith, K Shinoj, K C Ramachandran, Trouser Manoj, P K Kunjananthan and Vaipadachi Rafeeq to life imprisonment and fine, while another accused, Lambu Pradeepan of Kannur, was sentenced to three years imprisonment. Of the 36 accused, 24 including Mohanan were acquitted.