Kochi: A special court here on Thursday convicted two persons and acquitted three others in a case related to the murder of a Kasargod-based Youth Congress leader G. Balakrishnan in 2001.
The CBI court will announce the quantum of sentence in the case, the first major honour-killing one in the state, on Friday.
The incident happened on September 18, 2001, when Balakrishnan was forcefully taken in a car and stabbed to death. This after the 29-year-old had married the daughter of fifth accused Aboobacker belonging to Muslim community.
CBI court judge S. Santhosh Kumar found Mohammad Iqbal alias Ikku of Thekkil, Chattachal, Kasargod and Mohammed Haneef alias Jackie Haneef of Thalangara, Kasargod as guilty under IPC section 120(b) for conspiracy and 302 for murder. It acquitted A. Abdul Gafoor alias Gafoor of Thayalandgadi, Kasargod, A.M. Muhammad of Chengala, Kasargod, and Aboobackar Haji of Uppala, Kasargod, for want of evidence.
Earlier during the probe, the cops found that Mohammad Iqbal and Mohammad Haneef were directly involved in the murder while Gafoor and A.M. Mohammad were part of the conspiracy. The case was later handed over to the Crime Branch and then to the CBI in 2010 following a directive by the High Court.
The CBI arraigned Aboobacker as accused in the case and with the assistance of Interpol, Mohammad Iqbal who was hiding in Dubai was traced and arrested. Sixth accused Ahmed turned approver.
