MANNARKKAD: Madhu, the son of Mallan and Malli, abandoned his studies in Class 7 following his father’s death. He later learnt carpentry from Palakkad as part of the Samyojitha Gotra Development Scheme. Following this, he went to Alapuzha for work. While working in Alappuzha, Madhu got involved in a conflict there and sustained a head injury. Madhu, whose mental health was affected by this incident, was not able to return to normal life after that. Upon returning home, he started wandering deep into the forest. He began to frequently visit the forest and dwell in the caves. Madhu’s siblings are Sarasu and Chandrika. Sarasu used to work as an Anganwadi teacher. Chandrika is a police officer.

On Tuesday, the Mannarkkad SC/ST court convicted 14 out of the 16 accused in the Madhu murder case. Special court judge K M Ratheesh Kumar convicted them for the offence of culpable homicide not amounting to murder under Section 304 Part II of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The accused found guilty by the court are: first accused Hussain, second accused Marakkar, third accused Shamsudeen, fifth accused Radhakrishnan, sixth accused Abubakar, seventh accused Siddique, eighth accused Ubaid, ninth accused Najeeb, tenth accused Jaijumon, twelfth accused Sajeev, thirteenth accused Satheesh, fourteenth accused Hareesh, fifteenth accused Biju and sixteenth accused Muneer. Meanwhile, the court acquitted the fourth accused Aneesh and the eleventh accused Abdul Kareem. The verdict came five years after Madhu was killed.