2012 TP Chandrasekharan murder case: Kerala HC upholds conviction order by trial court

The Kerala High Court on Monday upheld the conviction of the accused in the TP Chandrasekharan murder case of 2012. It also dismissed the appeal of the convicts challenging the order of the trial court sentencing them.
A division bench of Justices AK Jayasankaran Nambiar and Kauser Edappagath set aside the acquittal of 2 accused and convicted them for criminal conspiracy in the case related to the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader Chandrasekharan at Onchiyam on May 4, 2012.

The High Court confirmed the judgment of the trial court and upheld the conviction of Anoop, Manoj alias Kirmani Manoj, NK Sunil Kumar alias Kodi Suni, TK Rajeesh, KK Muhammed Shafi, S Sijith, K Shinoj, KC Ramachandran, Manojan and Kunhanandan in respect of the charges proved against them.

Also, the court noted that Kunhanandan expired during the pendency of these appeals.
The court considered multiple appeals filed by the convicts seeking to set aside their conviction and sentencing. It also heard the state’s appeal to enhance the sentencing of the accused. There was another appeal filed by KK Rema, widow of Chandrasekharan, seeking to convict an accused, who had been acquitted.
The court stated in its order, “We set aside the acquittal of A10 (KK Krishnan) and A12 (Geothi Babu) and convict them under Section 120 B read with 302 of the IPC. We confirm the acquittal of the other accused.”

The trial court at Kozhikode acquitted 24 accused, including CPI (M) District Secretary P Mohanan in the case.
Furthermore, the High Court directed the jail authorities to produce all the convicted before it on February 26 to hear the state government’s plea to enhance their sentencing. The court also ordered to produce before it the 2 accused who were convicted today.
The accused in their appeal alleged that the investigation team acted in a premeditated manner and created false evidence.

In 2014, the Kozhikode Additional Sessions Court sentenced 11 accused to life imprisonment and awarded 3 years’ jail term to another accused, Lambu Pradeep. The convicted included CPI (M) local leaders KC Ramachandran and the late Kunhanandan.
Chandrasekharan (52) was hacked to death by a gang while he was returning home on his bike. The then United Democratic Front government in Kerala constituted a special investigation team to probe the case.