Nov. 13
INDIA:
4 CPI(M) men given death sentence in Kerala
A court in Thalassery on Friday awarded death sentence to 4 CPI-M
activists for murdering a BJP leader in Kannur district in 1996.
The Thalassery Principal District Sessions Court Judge Thomas P Joseph
handed down the sentence to the activists for murdering BJP district
secretary Pannyannoor Chandran while he was returning home on a motorcycle
on May 25, 1996.
The court sentenced the activists to two years rigorous imprisonment under
IPC section 147 (rioting), three years RI under section 148 (rioting armed
with deadly weapons), one months RI under section 341 (wrongful restraint)
and death sentence under IPC section 302 (murder). All the sentences would
run concurrently, the court said.
The capital punishment would be executed in concurrence with the high
court order, the court said.
The 2nd accused, T Pavithran, who went to a gulf country in search of job
after he was released on bail, will be tried separately after he returns
home, the court said adding a non-bailable arrest warrant had been issued
against him.
The court on Wednesday last had found A Sukumaran, M Surendran, K
Purushothaman and T P Preman, guilty of the murder and reserved its final
verdict for Friday. Elaborate security arrangements had been made at the
court premises where entry to the public was restricted in view of the
verdict being delivered.
(source: Sify)
