CBI files chargesheet against 24 in the murder of two Youth Congress activists

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed a chargesheet against a total of 24 accused persons who were allegedly involved in the murder of two Youth Congress activists in Kasargode district of Kerala.

A CBI official said that the chargesheet has been filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate of Ernakulam in Kerala. The deceased Kripesh and Sarat Lal were waylaid and hacked to death allegedly by CPM workers at Periya village in Kasargode District.

CBI had registered the instant case on 23 October 2019, against 14 accused in pursuance of the orders of the Kerala High Court and taken over the investigation of Crime relating to the alleged murder of Kripesh and Sarat Lal, both Youth leaders of a political party at Periya village, District Kasargode (Kerala).

It was alleged that on 2 February 2019 evening Kripesh and Sarat Lal were brutally murdered by workers of other political parties at Kaliyatt in Periya due to political enmity. After investigation, the Crime Branch of State Police filed the final report/chargesheet on 20 May 2019, against 14 accused.

Aggrieved by the investigation and chargesheet filed in this case by the State police, the victims’ parents filed a writ petition in the High Court of Kerala for CBI investigation. High Court of Kerala set aside the charge sheet filed by the State police and transferred the case to CBI for further investigation.

CBI conducted a thorough investigation and examined more than 300 witnesses and collected several documents etc in the case. During the investigation, it was alleged that there were some politically motivated attacks and counterattacks between the workers of two political parties in the area. It was further alleged that the brutal attack on the two victims was a retaliation to the earlier attack on one of the accused in the chargesheet and others, who hatched a conspiracy to attack the victims. It was also alleged that in pursuance of the said conspiracy, the victims were brutally attacked with deadly weapons.