Nine of the convicted individuals in the Periya double murder case were brought to Kannur Central Jail on Sunday. The transfer included eight of the accused, along with the tenth, who were moved from Viyyur Central Jail. This transfer followed requests made by the defendants.

Upon their arrival, the convicts were reportedly greeted with slogans from supporters of the ruling CPM. In a controversial turn, CPM State Committee member P. Jayarajan visited the jail and interacted with media persons. He stated that his purpose was to visit all the convicts and to hand over a book authored by him. 

According to Jayarajan, the court's verdict was not final and communists should not be intimidated by imprisonment.  "CPM aims to end political murders, but despite this desire, numerous violent incidents continue to occur in society. Such events should not happen. However, when communists are killed, the media rarely reports on it," he said.

"For the past eight and a half years, Kerala has been largely free from communal clashes and violent incidents. However, the media, due to its ant-Marxist stance, is reporting  matters in a biased manner," he alleged.

Meanwhile, the visit by P. Jayarajan to Kannur Central Jail raises questions due to its controversial nature. The presence of supporters chanting slogans in favour of the CPM, coupled with Jayarajan's statements on the court's verdict, has triggered criticism from CPM opponents. They accuse the party of allegedly supporting the perpetrators, further intensifying concerns about political influence in the case and the appropriateness of such a visit at a sensitive time.

Convicts and their sentences

The convicts transferred to Kannur Central Jail are A Peethambaran, Saji C George, Suresh K M, Anil Kumar K, Gijin G, Shrirag R, Aswin A, Subeesh, and Ranjith T.

They were sentenced to double life imprisonment by a CBI special court on January 3, after being found guilty of the murder and conspiracy behind the killings of Youth Congress workers Kripesh (21) and Sarathlal P K (24) nearly six years ago.

In total, 14 CPM workers were convicted in the case. Notably, former Uduma MLA K V Kunhiraman and three others received five-year prison terms.