Rare Verdict: Death Penalty For 15 Banned PFI Members In Kerala BJP Leader’s Murder Case

Alappuzha: The Mavelikkara Additional District Session Court-I in Kerala’s Alappuzha district on Tuesday awarded death sentence to all the 15 convicts in the 2021 sensational Ranjeet Sreenivas murder case.

It is for the first time in that state that death sentences have been awarded to so many convicts at one go.

The convicts were affiliated with the now-banned Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political wing, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).

Eight among them, who directly took part in the murder act, were found guilty under Sections 302 (murder), 149 (unlawful assembly), 449 (house trespass to commit offence punishable with death), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 341 (wrongful restraint) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). They have been awarded life sentence in addition to the death penalty. While three others , who stood guard outside the BJP’s leader’s house with deadly weapons when the assailants committed the crime, were convicted under Sections 302 r/w 149 and 447 (criminal trespass) of the IPC, key conspirators – Zakir Hussain, Shaji Poovathungal, and Shernas Ashraf- were found guilty of criminal conspiracy and murder under IPC Sections 120 B and 302, respectively, the Manorama reported.

Ranjith, the BJP OBC Morcha state secretary, was hacked to death in front of his wife, mother and minor daughter in Alappuzha town on the morning of December 19, 2021.