The Mavelikara Additional District Session Court-I on Saturday found 15 accused in the murder of BJP leader Ranjith Sreenivas, guilty of committing the heinous crime.
Judge Sreedevi VG found Naisam, Ajmal, Anoop, Mohammed Aslam, Abdul Kalam alias Salam, Abdul Kalam, Saffaruddin, Manshad, Jaseeb Raja, Navas, Sameer, Nazir, Abdul Kalam, Zakir Hussain, Shaji and Shernas Ashraf guilty of the crime.
The first eight accused, who took part in the killing, were found guilty under Section 302 (punishment for murder).
All the accused are members of the now-outlawed Popular Front of India and its political arm, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). The quantum of punishment will be announced on Monday.
According to the prosecution, BJP OBC Morcha state secretary and lawyer Sreenivasan was hacked to death by them near his house at Vellakinar junction in Alappuzha municipality.
The crime took place on December 19, 2021, in front of his mother, wife and daughter.
According to police, the killing of Ranjith was a retaliatory strike by the SDPI men to avenge the murder of its state secretary K S Shan, the night before.
It was a special team led by Alappuzha Deputy SP NR Jayaraj, who probed the case and arrested the accused.
Special Public Prosecutor Prathap G Padickkal and advocates Sreedevi Prathap, Shilpa Sivan and Hareesh Kattoor represented the prosecution side
There were 156 prosecution witnesses in the case. The prosecution produced around 1,000 documents and 100 material objects in the court in connection with the case.
The trial in the case was transferred from Alappuzha to Mavelikara court based on a High Court order.
The family of the late Ranjith Sreenivas welcomed the court’s verdict.
“We’re satisfied with the court verdict which found all the 15 guilty. We hope that all of them will get the maximum punishment,” said Vinodini, mother of Ranjith.