Twelve accused, including seven members of a paid killer gang and three local CPI(M) leaders of Kozhikode and Kannur districts, have been found guilty of the May 2012 murder of T. P. Chandrasekharan, who founded the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) after quitting the CPI(M).

By far the most sensational political murder in Kerala’s recent history, the ‘T.P. murder case’ shook the State and put the CPI(M) and the Opposition LDF on the defensive.

Setback The verdict is viewed as a setback for the CPI(M) and expected to have a significant impact on the upcoming Lok Sabha election.

The special additional sessions judge at Kozhikode, R. Narayana Pisharody, who pronounced the 12, most of whom are young men, guilty on Wednesday, will award their punishments on Friday.

The three CPI(M) leaders found guilty are P.K. Kunjanandan, member of an area committee; K.C. Ramachandran, member of a local committee; and ‘Trouser’ Manoj, secretary of a branch committee.

24 acquitted The judge acquitted 24 accused. Among them are three CPI(M) leaders, including a senior member of the CPI(M) Kozhikode district secretariat, P. Mohanan. Twenty accused had earlier been acquitted. Of the 164 prosecution witnesses, 52 had turned hostile during trial.

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, who heads the Congress party in the State, claimed the conviction of three CPI(M) leaders had proven beyond doubt the role of the party in the murder.

As regards the acquittal of 24, he told the media, the government would think of further legal steps.

However, the CPI (M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan claimed the verdict showed that allegations of his party plotting the murder were baseless. The anti-CPI(M) allegations had been focussed on Mohanan, whom the court has now acquitted, Vijayan told journalists in New Delhi soon after the verdict came out. K.K. Rama, widow of Chandrasekharan and currently the leader of the RMP, said the verdict is ‘not fully satisfactory’ and that her party will file an appeal against the acquittal of 24 persons, mainly Mohanan.

Chandrasekharan, considered a rebel leader in the CPI(M) strongholds of Kannur district before launching his own party, was hacked to death late night on May 4, 2012 while riding a two-wheeler back home.

Political uproar A gang knocked him off his two-wheeler with a car, and sliced him 51 times with knives.

The murder kicked up a huge political uproar in Kerala. Since the needle of suspicion had been in the direction of the CPI(M), the party had all along been on the defensive.

It organised several ‘explanatory meetings’ to convince people it had no role in the murder.

Security measures Several days ahead of the pronouncement of the verdict, police took large-scale security measures in Kannur and Kozhikode to prevent possible street violence.

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