Four accused in Periya murder case released as Kerala HC stays sentences

Kannur: Four accused in the Periya double murder case have been released from jail after their sentences were suspended by the Kerala High Court.

The 20th accused former Udma MLA K V Kunhiraman (62), 14th accused Kanhangad Block Panchayat president K Manikandan (45), and 21st accused Raghavan Vellutholi (54) and 22nd accused K V Bhaskaran (58) were released from the Central Jail.

Prominent CPM leaders from Kannur, including MV Jayarajan and P Jayarajan, arrived and welcomed them. They were released from jail as the High Court granted them conditional bail last day.

Special CBI Court judge N Seshadrinathan found the four CPM leaders guilty and sentenced them to five years imprisonment for rescuing the second accused, Saji C George, from police custody on the night of January 18, 2019, a day after Kripesh and Sarathlal were murdered.

However, it is argued in the appeal petition that the trial proceedings and the judgment of the CBI court were not fair and the punishment was awarded without proper assessment of the evidence and circumstances.

The accused have demanded that the verdict of the special CBI court, which sentenced them to five years imprisonment, should be annulled and the accused should be acquitted. The petition also sought the suspension of the sentence be suspended till then.

The court, after accepting the appeals on file, stayed the punishment of the accused. The high court said that when there was only a fixed term of sentence and the appeal was not likely to be heard before completing it, under normal circumstances, "the execution of the sentence passed against the accused shall be suspended and they shall be enlarged on bail".

This is in the context of the Supreme Court verdict in the Atul case. The court stated that the situation is similar in this case and that it does not see any special circumstances that need to be changed in this way, after which the order was passed suspending the sentence. The court will hear detailed arguments on the appeal of the accused later.

On February 17, 2019, at 7:45 PM in Periya, Kasaragod district, Youth Congress workers, Kripesh (21) and Sarath Lal P.K. (24) were killed by the accused including CPM workers. While they were returning home on a bike after the meeting of the organizing committee of Perumkaliyattam, a group in a jeep rammed the bike and hacked both of them. The CBI took over after the murder was first investigated by the local police and crime branch.

10 out of the 24 accused were acquitted on December 28 due to a lack of evidence.