T P Chandrasekharan murder case: Kerala HC upholds conviction order by trial court
Kochi (PTI): The Kerala High Court on Monday upheld the conviction of the accused in the T P Chandrasekharan murder case of 2012.
It also dismissed the appeal of the convicts challenging the trial court order sentencing them.
A Division Bench of Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Kauser Edappagath set aside the acquittal of two accused and convicted them for criminal conspiracy in the case related to the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader Chandrasekharan at Onchiyam on May 4, 2012.
The High Court confirmed the judgment of the trial court and upheld the conviction of Anoop, Manoj alias Kirmani Manoj, N K Sunil Kumar alias Kodi Suni, T K Rajeesh, K K Muhammed Shafi, S Sijith, K Shinoj, K C Ramachandran, Manojan and Kunhanandan in respect of the charges proved against them.
The court also noted that Kunhanandan had expired during the pendency of these appeals.
The court was considering multiple appeals filed by the convicts seeking to set aside their conviction and sentencing. It also heard the state's appeal to enhance the sentencing of the accused. There was another appeal filed by K K Rema, widow of Chandrasekharan, seeking to convict an accused, who had been acquitted.
"We set aside the acquittal of A10 (K K Krishnan) and A12 (Geothi Babu) and convict them under Section 120 B read with 302 of the IPC. We confirm the acquittal of the other accused," the court said in its order.
The trial court at Kozhikode had acquitted 24 accused, including CPI(M) District Secretary P Mohanan in the case.
The High Court on Monday directed the jail authorities to produce all the convicted before it on February 26 to hear the state government's plea to enhance their sentencing.
The court also ordered to produce before it the two accused who were convicted today.
The accused in their appeal alleged that the investigation team acted in a premeditated manner and created false evidence.
The Kozhikode Additional Sessions Court had in 2014 sentenced 11 accused to life imprisonment and awarded three years' jail term to another accused, Lambu Pradeep.
The convicted included CPI(M) local leaders K C Ramachandran and the late Kunhanandan.
Chandrasekharan (52) was hacked to death by a gang while he was returning home on his bike.
The then United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Kerala constituted a special investigation team to probe the case.
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'War no solution, terrorists must be hunted down': Raj Thackeray
Mumbai (PTI): Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray said war was not a solution to the problem of terrorism, and the government should give priority to finding the perpetrators of terror attacks.
On a day Indian armed forces carried out missile strikes on terror targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir, he said the government must be questioned about why a terror attack could take place in Pahalgam in the first place.
"War is no answer to a terrorist attack. In the US, they (terrorists) toppled the Twin Towers, attacked the Pentagon. The US did not wage a war. They killed those terrorists," said the MNS chief, speaking to reporters here.
"You have not found the terrorists who attacked (tourists in Pahalgam). Why there was no security in a place where thousands of tourists are going for the last many years? It is more important to carry out a combing operation inside our country and find them out. The airstrike, distracting people....this, war can not be the solution," he added.
Instead of Wednesday's planned mock drill of Civil Defence, a "combing operation" should be carried out all over the country, Thackeray further said.
Criticizing what he called a misplaced show of strength, Thackeray said, "There seems to be a desire to create a war-like situation in another country. Now we see mock drills and sirens (going off). But we need to ask the fundamental question, why did this (attack in Pahalgam on April 22 in which 26 civilians were killed) happen in the first place?"
He also took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his itinerary in the aftermath of the Pahalgam attack. "The prime minister was in Saudi Arabia when this (terror attack) happened, and he returned early, only to go to Bihar for campaigning. That was not necessary. He went to Kerala for the inauguration of Adani's port and later came to Mumbai for the WAVES function. If the situation was so grave, all this could have been avoided," said the MNS chief who had backed Modi during the 2024 general elections.
The government's failures need to be pointed out, Thackeray said, adding the country does not need a symbolic response. "Find the terrorists, dismantle their networks, and tackle the drug menace that is spreading through our streets," he said.
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