- By Radha Basnet
- Tue, 30 Jan 2024 12:09 PM (IST)
- Source:PTI
Ranjith Sreenivasan Murder Case: As many as 14 people associated with the now-banned Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) have been sentenced to death by a Kerala court in connection with the killing of BJP leader Ranjith Sreenivasan in Alappuzha district. The murder of the BJP OBC wing leader occurred in December 2021. The sentence was pronounced by Mavelikkara Additional District Judge V G Sreedevi.
The prosecution had sought the maximum sentence for the convicts, saying that they were a "trained killer squad" and the cruel and diabolical manner in which the victim was killed in front of his mother, infant, and wife brings it within the ambit of the "rarest of the rarest" of crimes.
Earlier this month, the key accused in the 2010 Kerala hand-chopping case was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) from Kannur after being on the run for nearly 13 years. The accused identified as Sawad was living in Kannur with his family for over a year, IANS said in its report.
The NIA had declared a reward of Rs 10 lakh for anyone who gave information about Sawad. According to locals in Mattanoor near Kannur, the accused was living in the area under an assumed name, "Shahjahan", and working as a carpenter.
"He used to work as a carpenter and did not have any contact with the locals. He used to leave in the morning for work and return late in the evening," a local named Noufal was quoted as saying by IANS.
