BJC OBC Morcha Secretary Ranjith Sreenivasan Murder Case
Kerala Court sentenced death to 15 accused
Kerala Court sentenced death to 15 accused associated with the now banned Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) in connection with the murder of Bhartiya Janta Party OBC Wing leader Ranjith Sreenivasan in Alappuzha district in December 2021. The sentence was pronounced by Mavelikkara Additional Sessions Judge IVG Sreedevi. The prosecution has sought the maximum sentence for the convict saying that they were a trained killer squad and the cruel and diabolical manner in which the victim was murdered in front of his mother, infant and wife brings it within the ambit of the rarest of the rarest case.
List of the 15 accused in rarest of rare case
Observing that the case falls under the category of the rarest of rare, Judge Sreedevi V G, awarded capital punishment to the 15 accused in this murder case - Naisam, Ajmal, Anoop, Mohammed Aslam, Abdul Kalam alias Salam, Abdul Kalam, Saffaruddin, Manshad, Jaseeb Raja, Navas, Sameer, Nazir, Zakir Hussain, Shaji Poovathungal and Shernas Ashraf.
Ranjith Sreenivasan was murdered on 16th December 2021. He was murdered in front of his family. The prosecution case was against the accused, which belonged to a religion and were the office bearers of the now banned Popular Front of India and the Social Democratic Party of India brutally attacked and killed Ranjith Sreenivasan, 45 year old lawyer, who was practicing in the Alappuzha Bar, in retaliation to murder of one of their party leaders.
Alappuzha DSP N R Jayaraj led a special team in order to investigate this murder case. Special Public Prosecutor Prathap G Padickkal and advocate Sreedevi Prathap, Shilpa Sivan, and Hareesh Kattoor represented the prosecution side. During the trial, the court recorded statements from 156 witnesses, while the prosecution also submitted approximately 1,000 documents and 100 material objects as evidence. The court verdict of granting capital punishment to the 15 accused has brought solace and satisfaction to the deceased Ranjith Sreenivasan family.
All 15 accused in the case were found guilty by the court on January 20, under Section 302 (murder) and various other provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Sreenivasan murder was actually a retaliation to avenge the murder of the SDPI’s State secretary K.S. Shan at Kuppezham Junction at Mannancherry, Alappuzha, alleged by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activists. While the murder of K.S. Shan was a retaliation to the murder of RSS worker Nandukrishna by SDPI men at Vayalar in Alappuzha on February 24, 2021.
Four persons put under judicial custody for spreading hate and offensive posts
Four persons have been put under judicial custody for spreading hate and offensive posts against the court proceedings and the judge who sentenced the accused to death in Ranjith Sreenivasan murder case. Naseer Mon, a 47 year old native of Mannancherry, Rafi, a 38 year old native of Thiruvananthapuram, Nawaz, a 42 year old resident of Alappuzha, and Shajahan, a 36 year old native of Ambalapuzha, were the four people arrested in this matter. Security was heightened for Mavelikkara Additional Sessions Judge-I V G Sreedevi, after taking serious note of the online threats made against her.
