HC dismisses appeals of convicts in TP case; nullifies decision to acquit 2 persons

Thiruvanathapuram: The Kerala High Court has rejected the appeal filed by the convicts in the infamous T P Chandrasekharan murder case challenging the punishment given out to them. A division bench comprising Justices A K Jayasankaran Nambiar and Kauser Edappagath, which reserved the order in January after the conclusion of the hearing, has now upheld the trial court verdict.

In addition to this, the HC has nullified the decision to acquit two persons of all charges. The convicts are required to personally appear before the court on February 26.

The division bench has rendered judgments on the appeals filed by the 12 convicts against the sentence. The court considered the prosecution's plea for imposing maximum punishment on the accused and also addressed the appeal filed by Chandrasekharan's wife, K K Rema, against the acquittal of CPM leader P Mohanan and others in the case.

TP Chandrasekharan (52) who was a Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader was hacked to death by a gang at around 10 pm on May 4, 2012, while he was returning home on his bike. The accused hurled crude bombs at him, and when he fell off the motorcycle, he was hacked to death. The brutal murder had happened at Vallikad near Vadakara. After a lengthy probe that stirred public outrage against the Left Front, the court convicted 12 accused, including three leaders of CPM. TK Rajeesh is the fourth accused in the case. 

While the Kozhikode additional sessions court had sentenced 11 accused to life imprisonment, one was awarded a three-year-jail term. 

It was widely alleged that Chandrasekharan was killed by the CPM members owing to the grudge over him for leaving the party and forming the new RMP party at Onchiyam.