A court in Thalassery, Kerala, sentenced nine RSS workers to life imprisonment on Tuesday for the murder of a CPI(M) worker nearly 19 years ago. The incident occurred on October 3, 2005, during political unrest between the two parties in Kannapuram Chunda, in the state’s northern district.
The victim, 25-year-old CPI(M) member Rijith Sankaran, was ambushed near a temple while walking home with friends. Armed with weapons, the accused attacked the group, injuring three of Rijith’s companions before fatally assaulting him. The attack was part of escalating tensions between the RSS and CPI(M) in the region at the time.
On January 4, the Additional District Sessions Court in Thalassery convicted the accused. Among the ten individuals charged, one had passed away in a road accident before the verdict. The nine convicted individuals include Sudhakaran (57), Jayesh (41), Ranjith (44), Ajeendran (51), Anilkumar (52), Rajesh (46), Sreekanth (47), his brother Sreejith (43), and Bhaskaran (67).
The court found the convicts guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. These include murder (Section 302), attempted murder (Section 307), unlawful assembly (Section 143), rioting (Section 147), wrongful restraint (Section 341), and voluntarily causing hurt with weapons (Section 324).
This judgment brings closure to a long-standing case of politically motivated violence in the region.
