Ranjith Sreenivasan murder: A spooky hitlist and bloodshed in front of family
Alappuzha: In a first for the state, 15 accused in a case have been sentenced to death by the Mavelikara Additional Sessions Court. The brutal murder of Ranjith Sreenivasan was one that shook the entire state. BJP worker and lawyer Ranjith was hacked to death by SDPI-PFI activists at his home in front of his aged mother, wife, and minor daughter. The image of Ranjith’s blood-soaked body fighting for dear life is something that the family can never erase from their memory. But the death sentence verdict issued today does give them something of the semblance of justice.
Alappuzha witnessed two murders within 24 hours on 18,19 December 2021 where a BJP and SDPI leader were killed.
It was on the night of December 18 that the news of SDPI leader K.S Shan being hacked to death by a group of people broke. RSS activists were caught for their involvement in this murder. Before the night dawned, Ranjith Sreenivasan's gruesome murder took place. It took mere hours of planning to carry out this tragic killing.
A group of assailants barged into Ranjith’s house and hacked him. There were 56 cuts on his body and his face was disfigured. Ranjith’s mother heard some commotion and saw her son being beaten. When she tried to intervene, a machete was put to her neck as well. His wife and daughter were also scared by brandishing the sticks.
A preliminary investigation revealed that Ranjith, the BJP OBC Morcha state secretary, was hacked to death by a 12-member gang who came on six bikes. A hitlist was found on one of the accused’s mobile phones on which Ranjith was the first name.
Two years after the event, the court pronounced its verdict and sentenced all 15 accused to death. The prosecution examined 156 witnesses in the case. About a thousand documents and more than a hundred pieces of evidence were produced in court.
According to the prosecutor, the court found that out of the 15, accused one to eight were directly involved in the case.
It also found four men (Accused number nine to 12) guilty of murder because they, along with those directly involved in the crime, came to the spot armed with deadly weapons.
Their objective was to prevent Sreenivasan from escaping and stop anyone entering the house after hearing his screams.
The court had accepted the prosecution's argument that they were also liable for the common offense of murder under IPC Section 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), Padickal said.
The court found three persons (Accused number 13 to 15) who hatched the conspiracy for this crime to be convicted of murder. As a result, the court found all the 15 accused in the case guilty of murder. They were also found guilty under various other sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The case regarding the murder of K.S Shan, however, is still pending in court.
(Inputs from PTI)