The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed a charge sheet against 24 persons, including former CPI(M) MLA K.V. Kunhiraman, in the Periye double murder case before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ernakulam, on Friday.
The charge sheet was filed by T.P. Ananda Krishnan, Deputy Superintendent of Police, CBI Special Crime Branch, in Thiruvananthapuram. The accused were booked under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code, including murder, criminal conspiracy, causing grievous hurt with deadly weapons, destruction of evidence, concealing the commission of murder and its facilitation, and arms Act.
Congress workers Kripesh, 19, and Sarath Lal P.K, 24, were hacked to death at Periye in Kasaragod district on February 17, 2019. Mr. Kunhiraman and three others were charged under the section of obstruction to lawful apprehension of accused persons. The Kerala High Court had asked the CBI to file the charge sheet on or before December 4.
The Central agency will seek permission of the High Court for further investigation into the case. It will soon file a petition before the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court seeking the custody of five CPI(M) workers arrested on Wednesday.
Of the 24 accused, 19 persons have been arrested in the case. Fourteen were held by the State Police, while the CBI had arrested five persons. The accused, including Peethambaran, Saji George, Suresh, Anil Kumar, Girijan, Sreerag, Aswin, Subeesh, Ranjith and Surendran, were found directly involved in the murder. Nine persons were involved in the conspiracy, while two were accused of destroying the evidence.
The case was handed over to the CBI on September 30, 2019, after the Kerala High Court found the probe by the State Police as ‘not trustworthy’. The Supreme Court had dismissed a Kerala government appeal against the State High Court’s decision to transfer further investigation into the case to the CBI in December, 2020.
