THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The court on Wednesday sentenced eight BJP workers to life imprisonment in the murder of CPM worker R Sreekmar, better known as Ashokan in his hometown of Kattakkada. Five of the convicts will have to serve double life imprisonment. These five convicts, who were directly involved in the incident are liable to rigorous imprisonment for life and a fine of Rs. 50,000. And will have to serve another life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 for conspiracy. The three accused were sentenced to life imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 for conspiracy. Additional District Sessions Judge Sudarshan passed the sentence.
Ashokan was murdered on May 5 2013. A personal rivalry between first accused Shambhu, and Ashokan's friend Binu led to the murder. Binu mortgaged his Bike's RC book to take Rs 10000 on credit from Shambhu. Though Binu repaid the sum, Shambhu demanded more money as interest and started disturbing him, at which point Asokan intervened and allegedly slapped him. Shambhu had also publicly threatened to kill Ashokan following their dispute, for he feared that Ashokan, being a social activist, could tip him off to the police. Also, it was a time when the state police had initiated a special drive to nab all illegal money lenders in the state.
There was a total of 19 accused in the case. One of them died and another was made an approver. The court found Shambhu, Sreejith, Hari, Ambili, Santhosh, Sajeev, Ashokan alias Anni and Prashanth alias Pazhinji, guilty in the case.