Life term for eight accused in Muzhappilangad Suraj murder case, imposes fine of Rs 50,000 

KANNUR: Eight accused in the BJP worker Suraj murder case in Muzhappilangad, have been sentenced to life. Second to nine accused have been sentenced to life. They will have to pay a fine of Rs 50,000. They are directly involved in the murder and had hatched a conspiracy. The eleventh accused Pradeep will have to undergo three-year jail term and slapped a fine of Rs 25,000. The sentence was awarded by the Thalassery Principal Sessions Court.

There was a total of 12 accused in the case. Two including the first accused died during the trial. The court had acquitted the tenth accused in the case on Friday. All nine of the convicted are CPM workers. Chief minister's press secretary P M Manoj's brother Manoraj Narayan, T P case accused T V Rajeesh, Yogesh, Shamjith alias Jithu, Sajeevan, Prabhakaran, Padmanabhan and Radhakrishnan were sentenced to life. The fine should be paid to Suraj's relatives.

Suraj was hacked to death by CPM workers on August 7, 2005 at Muzhappilangad beach. The reason for the murder was the enmity behind him leaving the party and joining the BJP. Suraj had been attacked by CPM workers six months before the murder. Suraj, who was hacked on his leg at that time, was bedridden for six months. He was attacked again when recuperated after treatment. Suraj was 32 when he was murdered. Initially, a case was registered against ten, but based on the confessional statement made by T K Rajeesh, arrested in TP case, two more were arraigned in the case. One of them is Manoraj.