Kannur, July 5 (UNI): The Thalassery additional district sessions court on Friday sentenced nine RSS/BJP activists to life imprisonment for murdering CPI(M) worker K.P. Raveendran inside the Kannur Central prison in 2004.
Besides the life term, the court also slapped a fine of Rs one lakh each on them.
Of the total 31 jail inmates who were accused in the case, the court today acquitted 21 persons following lack of evidence against them, while the 12th accused Rakesh (47) of Thavakkara near Kannur is still at large.
RSS/BJP workers A C Pavithran (49) of Panoor, Phalghunan (49) of Vadanappally in Thrissur district, K P Raghu (50) and T Suni (43) of Central Poyiloor, Sanal Prasad (45) of Arakinar, P K Dineshan (48) and K Anil Kumar (47) of Naravoor near Koothuparamba, K Sasi (49) of Mokeri and P V Ashokan (48) of Balussery in Kozhikode district were sentenced by Judge P N Vinod.
The fifth accused Dineshan and eighth accused Suni have been undergoing life imprisonment in Kannur Central jail in separate cases including the murder of SFI leader Sudheesh of Koothuparamba. The remaining seven convicts were released from Kannur Central jail after they finished their previous convicted term. They are again lodged at Kannur Central jail following the verdict.
It was on April 6, 2004 afternoon, when K.P. Raveendran (47) of Kakkat near Vadakara in Kozhikode district, who had been undergoing life imprisonment in a murder case, was attacked in a clash between two groups of jail inmates, due to political rivalry, in front of seventh block.
Raveendran suffered serious head injuries in the attack with planks and stones. Later in the evening he died at Pariyaram Medical College hospital.
Two other inmates Raju and Raghesh, both CPI(M) workers, were also injured in the attack of RSS/BJP workers and were presently undergoing imprisonment.
This was the first political murder inside a prison in the state.
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