Kannur, Kerala: All nine accused in the brutal murder case of CPM worker Rijith Shankaran in Kannapuram have been sentenced to life imprisonment. The verdict was delivered by the Thalassery Additional Sessions Court-3 after a long legal battle lasting 19 years.

The court found all 10 BJP-RSS workers guilty of the murder, with the third accused, Ajesh, having passed away in a car accident earlier. The remaining nine, including V V Sudhakaran (56), Jayesh (39), C P Ranjith (42), P P Ajindran (50), I V Anilkumar (51), P P Rajesh, V V Sreekanth (46), his brother V V Sreejith (42), and T V Bhaskaran (66) have been sentenced to life imprisonment. The prosecution presented 59 documents and 50 pieces of evidence, along with testimonies from 28 witnesses.

The murder

The fatal attack occurred on the evening of 3 October 2005. Rijith, along with his friends, was walking home when they were ambushed by a ten-member gang. The dispute was reportedly related to the opening of a new RSS branch at a nearby temple. Rijith tried to intervene when he saw a fellow CPM worker, Vimal, being attacked. He was fatally wounded in the incident, and three other CPM workers were injured. Rijith died at the scene from his injuries.