A special CBI court in Kochi, on Friday, sentenced 10 CPI-M workers to double life imprisonment for the murder and conspiracy in the killing of Youth Congress workers Kripesh (21) and Sarathlal P K (24) in the Periya twin murder case.

The convicts, Peethambaran, Saji George, Suresh, Anilkumar, Jijin, Sreerag, Aswin, Sudheesh, Renjith, and Surendran, were also found guilty of unlawful assembly, rioting, and wrongful restraint and fined with Rs 2 lakh each.

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Special Judge N Seshadrinathan ordered that the punishment would run concurrently. The fine will be given to the families of the victims, Kripesh and Sarathlal.

The court also sentenced former Udma MLA and CPI-M’s Kasaragod District Secretariat member K V Kunhiraman, Kanhangad Block Panchayat president and CPI-M District Committee member K Manikandan, and two other CPI-M leaders five years imprisonment with a fine of Rs 10,000 each for forcibly taking away second accused Saji C George from police custody.

The court on December 28 found 14 CPI-M activists, including former CPI-M MLA K V Kunhiraman, guilty in the politically sensitive 2019 Periya twin murder case.

The case pertains to the murder of Youth Congress workers Kripesh (19) and SaratlLal P K (23) on February 17, 2019.

Peethambaran and his associate C J Saji were arrested after the murders. Initially, the case was handled by the Crime Branch wing of the Kerala Police. On May 20, 2019, the Crime Branch submitted a chargesheet in the case, naming 14 accused, all linked to the CPI-M. However, dissatisfied with the progress of the investigation, the victims’ parents approached the Kerala High Court demanding a CBI probe. The high court quashed the Crime Branch chargesheet and handed over the probe to the CBI on September 30, 2019.

Following this, the Kerala government moved a division bench of the high court against a single bench order for the CBI probe into the case. On August 25, 2020, the division bench upheld the single bench’s order transferring the probe to the CBI.

The Kerala government challenged the high court’s decision in the Supreme Court. On December 1, 2020, the apex court dismissed the state government’s petition allowing the CBI to take over the case.

After taking over the probe, The CBI arraigned 10 more accused including CPI-M leaders and filed a chargesheet against them in 2022. The chargesheet named 24 accused, including CPI-M leader and former Uduma MLA KV Kunhiraman.The trial began in the Kochi CBI court on February 2, 2023

The families of the victims said they were expecting capital punishment for the accused and since that has not been given and 10 others were exonerated, they will speak with the Congress leadership and appeal against the verdict

Opposition leader VD Satheesan said with CPI-M leaders among the convicted the party’s repeated claims of having no role in the murders fell flat. He assured the families of the victims that the Congress would support any decision to file an appeal.

Palakkad MLA and Youth Congress state president Rahul Mamkootathil said the accused in the Periya double murder case should have been awarded death penalty. Such a sentence would have discouraged any CPI-M member from taking up the murder knife in future, he said

AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal MP said in Kozhikode that the court verdict in the Periya double murder case is a severe blow to the CPI-M, which abandoned communism and turned to criminalism. K C Venugopal said through the politics of violence, the Communist Marxist Party of India has become the Criminal Marxist Party of India.

Responding to the verdict, RMP MLA and wife of slain RMP leader T P Chandrasekharan asked when the CPI-M will be ready to put down the sword of death. “It is not a trivial matter that top leaders of the CPI-M, including a former party MLA, have been sentenced in the murder case,” she said.

The brutal murder of Youth Congress workers Kripesh and Sarathlal was initially downplayed by the CPI-M, which claimed they were the result of personal enmity rather than political rivalry. However, the court’s decision convicting several CPI-M leaders—including a district secretariat member and former party MLA —contradicts this claim, reinforcing the belief that the murders were politically motivated. Allegations that the CPI-M attempted to obstruct the CBI investigation to protect its members are also gaining traction.

The case, widely regarded as one of the most controversial one involving the CPI-M, echoes the TP. Chandrasekharan murder case, another politically charged incident in the state. Despite initial attempts to blame local committee member Peethambaran for the murders, the court held several senior CPI-M leaders at various levels a responsible for the murder, further discrediting the party’s claim that the murders were not politically motivated. While the CPI-M might find solace in the fact that not everyone named by the CBI was convicted, the court’s finding that district secretariat member and party former MLA K V Kunhiraman is guilty in the case is a significant setback for the party.

The Periya double murder case highlights the alleged attempts by the CPI-M to shield its members from political justice. While the Crime Branch initially filed a charge sheet, there were accusations that it was part of a move to prevent a CBI investigation. Eventually, the case was transferred to the CBI by the High Court, leading to the current verdict.