The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team investigating the Periya twin murder case arrested five Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] workers, including a branch secretary, on Wednesday.
The investigation into the murder of Youth Congress activists Kripesh and Sarath Lal, on February 17, 2019, at Periya, was referred to the CBI following a Kerala High Court order.
The CBI arrested branch secretary Raju, Surendran, Shasta Madhu, Hariprasad and Reji Varghese. All are from Echiladukkum, near Kalliot, where the murder was committed. The arrests were registered six months after the CBI had registered the case.
On Wednesday, the CBI summoned local CPI(M) leaders and activists to the Kasaragod guest house and questioned them, following which the five were arrested. They will be produced at the Ernakulam CJM court on Thursday. So far, 19 people have been arrested in the case, while two are out on bail.
The CBI team had on March 5 raided the Echiladukkam branch committee office of the CPI(M) and seized the minutes of a branch committee meeting convened a week before the murder. The remand report of the local police, which had initially probed the case, had said that the first accused, former CPI(M) local committee member Peethambaran, had hatched the murder conspiracy at the meet.
The CBI focussed on the minutes of the meet, party documents, and phone calls made at the time to zero in on the five accused.
