KANNUR: The Ernakulam CBI court has found 14 guilty in the murder case of youth congress activists Sarath Lal and Kripesh of Kalliot in Periya. 14 accused including former MLA K V Kunhiraman were found guilty. The court acquitted 10 people. Accused one to ten were found guilty of murder. Ten of the 14 convicted are important leaders of the CPM. The quantum of sentence will be pronounced on January 3, 2025.

Former CPM Periya local committee member A Peethambaran, the perpetrators of the murder Saji C George, K M Suresh, K Anil Kumar, Jijin, R Sreerag, A Ashwin and Subeesh were found guilty of murder. The ninth accused A Murali, T Ranjith, K Manikandan (former area secretary of Uduma and president of Kanhangad block panchayat), A Surendran, K V Kunhiraman (former MLA of Uduma and CPM district secretariat member), Raghavan Velutholi (former Pakkam local secretary) and K V Bhaskaran are the other found guilty by the court.

The court cross- examined 292 witnesses. The attack happened on February 17, 2019. A special team of the local police initially and later the crime branch investigated the case. The CBI took over the investigation after the parents of Sarath Lal and Kripesh approached the high court. The investigation was conducted by a CBI team led by DySP Ananthakrishnan of the Thiruvananthapuram unit. The trial in the CBI court began in February 2023.