Verdict Out in Kerala BJP Leader Murder Case, All 15 Accused From PFI Held Guilty

Thiruvananthapuram: Mavelikara Additional Sessions Judge VG Sridevi on Saturday found 15 men associated with now-banned PFI guilty of murder in the case of Advocate Rajnith Srinivas, who was the state secretary of the BJP OBC Morcha. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on Monday.

On December 19, 2021, 15 accused are currently facing trial in the case of Ranjith Srinivasan who entered his house in Alappuzha Vellakinar and hacked him to death in front of his mother, wife and daughter. Alappuzha Dys PNR Jayaraj has completed the investigation and submitted the charge sheet in the case, 156 witnesses, about a thousand documents and hundreds of photographs have been presented as evidence in the court by Special Prosecutor Adv Pratap G Patikal. The prosecution also relied on evidence like fingerprints, scientific evidence, CCTV footage and route maps prepared with the help of Google Maps in the case.

In court, the prosecution examined witnesses from various fields such as judicial officers, doctors, police officers, various political leaders and ordinary people, who conducted the identification parade of the accused. It is said that the Popular Front, an organization to which the accused belonged, had the intention of murdering Ranjith Srinivasan very early and the accused had made detailed and extensive preparations and conspiracies for this purpose. The prosecution case is that it was being conducted.

The trial court judge has interrogated the 15 defendants in the case in about 6000 pages and recorded their statements under section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Act. From the very beginning, the prosecution has taken an approach in this case with the objective of examining the maximum number of witnesses within a very short period of time.

Meanwhile, allegations were raised from the defendants that the case should be transferred out of the trial district and that there is less security for the accused. Then, with the intervention of the High Court, the trial of the case was transferred to the Mavelikkara Additional Sessions Court. The defendants again approached the Supreme Court against that verdict, but the Supreme Court refused to intervene.

The police provided heavy police security during the trial as there were severe threats against the witnesses and the prosecution lawyers in the case.

In the case, Advocates Sridevi Pratap, Shilpa Sivan and Harish Kattur are appearing along with Special Public Prosecutor Pratap G Patikal. The first eight accused namely Nizam, Ajmal, Anoop, Muhammad Aslam, Salam Ponnad, Abdul Salam, Safaruddin and Manshad were found guilty of murder.  The rest  -- Zakir Hussain, Shaji Poovathinkal and Shernath Ashraf -- have been charged with criminal conspiracy