12 found guilty in TP Chandrasekharan murder case, CPIM activists freed

Calicut: Twelve accused in the T P Chandrasekharan murder case, which brought CPI(M) in Kerala under a cloud, were found guilty by a special court, but some of the party's key local functionaries charged with conspiracy were acquitted.

Those let off by Special Court Judge R Narayana Pisharadi included CPI(M) district secretariat member P Mohanan, who allegedly conspired to murder RMP leader Chandrasekharan. A total of 36 persons faced the trial.

Twelve were convicted today and 24 acquitted. The quantum of punishment is expected to be pronounced tomorrow after hearing the defence and prosecution. Chandrasekharan, once a CPI(M) functionary from the party bastion Onchiyam near Vatakara in Kozhikode district, was hacked to death by the first seven accused on May 4, 2012.

The prosecution case was that the first seven accused were engaged by a section of local CPI(M) functionaries who plotted to kill Chandrasekharan, who challenged CPI(M) in the area by floating the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP). The case had brought CPI(M) in the state under a cloud for long.