CPM candidate sentenced to 10 years for hurling bombs at police

Taliparamba, Kannur: A court here on Tuesday sentenced two men, including a CPM candidate for the local body polls, to a 10-year jail term for attempting to kill police officers by throwing bombs during a protest more than a decade ago.

V K Nishad, 35, a DYFI leader and the LDF candidate in Payyannur Municipality, and T C V Nandakumar, 35, from Annur, were handed a combined sentence of 20 years' rigorous imprisonment under several charges.

They were also fined Rs 2.5 lakh. However, the court ruled that serving 10 years will be enough for both.

The incident happened on August 1, 2012, during a protest against the police arrest of CPM leader P Jayarajan. He had been taken into custody in connection with the murder of MSF leader Shukkoor in Ariyil.

The court had earlier found both accused guilty in the case. Two other accused in the case, A Mithun (36) of Velloor and KV Kripesh (38) of Alinkeezhil, were acquitted.

Legal experts say the conviction will not affect the election campaign of the first accused, Nishad.

Nishad is the DYFI Payyannur block secretary and currently a councillor for Karamel West in Payyannur. He is contesting this time from the Mottammal ward.

As the sentence was not pronounced at the time of filing his nomination papers, he faced no bar to contesting. CPM Velloor North local committee member M Harindran, who submitted a nomination as a dummy candidate, has not withdrawn his papers. This is to avoid a situation where the party is left without a candidate if Nishad becomes unable to contest.