The Thalassery District Sessions Court in Kerala’s Kannur on Friday convicted nine CPI-M members in the 2005 murder of BJP worker Sooraj at Muzhappilangad near Kannur. A tenth accused was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Among those convicted is Manoraj Narayanan, the brother of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s Press Secretary, P.M. Manoj, along with TK Rajeesh, who was previously accused in the RMP leader TP Chandrasekharan murder case.

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Others found guilty include Prabhakaran Master (former local CPI-M secretary and former Edakkad panchayat president); KV Padmanabhan and Manombeth Radhakrishnan (CPI-M local committee members), and NV Yagesh, K Shamjith, Neyyoth Sajeevan, and Nagathankota Prakashan (CPI-M members).

Two other accused, PK Shamsudheen and T.P. Raveendran, passed away during the trial.

The murder took place on August 7, 2005, in Muzhappilangad, a CPI-M-dominated village in Thalassery, following political animosity. Sooraj, aged 32, was brutally attacked with knives and swords after switching allegiance from CPI-M to BJP.

Before attacking him, the gang detonated a country bomb to create panic and disperse bystanders. Once they confirmed his death, the assailants fled the scene.

This was not the first attack on Sooraj. Six months earlier, CPI-M workers had assaulted him, leaving him bedridden with a leg injury. After recovering, he was targeted again, leading to his tragic death.

According to the chargesheet, on August 5, 2005, five of the accused plotted to kill Sooraj. On August 7, six accused arrived in an autorickshaw, forming an unlawful assembly, and attacked Sooraj with deadly weapons.

The chargesheet states that Sooraj attempted to flee but fell on the road, after which NV Yagesh hacked his neck with a sword, and TK Rajeesh struck his head with an axe.

Though the trial began in 2010, it faced delays. The case took a dramatic turn in 2012 when TK Rajeesh, arrested for the murder of RMP leader TP Chandrasekharan, confessed to involvement in multiple political killings, including Sooraj’s.

Following this revelation, the Kerala High Court ordered the case to be reopened, leading to today’s conviction.