A Kerala court on Tuesday handed the death penalty to 15 men - associated with the now-banned Popular Front of India - convicted of the murder of Ranjith Srinivasan, who was a member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological mentor of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The 15 men were found guilty last week. The court ruled that eight - identified by news agency ANI as Nizam, Ajmal, Anoop, Mohammed Aslam, Abdul Salam alias Salam Ponnad, Abdul Salam, Saffaruddin, and Manshad - had been directly involved in the killing of Ranjith Srinivasan.
Four others were found guilty of murder because they came to the scene of the crime armed with deadly weapons; their objective, the court said, was to prevent Srinivasan from escaping and stop anyone trying to help him. The three others were convicted of conspiracy to murder.
The prosecution had sought the maximum sentence for all 15, arguing they constituted a "trained killer squad", and the cruel and diabolical manner in which Srinivasan was killed, in front of his mother, infant, and wife, brought it within the ambit of the "rarest of the rarest" of crimes.
The lawyers appearing for the convicts sought leniency on grounds the crime was not "rarest of the rare" as similar murders had taken place in the state several times. They also cited the convicts' age - between 26 and 52 years old - while seeking maximum possible exemption in sentencing.
The sentence was pronounced by Additional District Judge VG Sreedevi.
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Srinivasan, also a member of the BJP's Kerala unit, was attacked and killed at his home in Kerala's Alappuzha district on December 19, 2021. This was a day after the Social Democratic Party of India's KS Shaan was killed. The SDPI is the PFI's political unit but managed to escape the centre's ban.
The BJP's Kerala unit posted on X this morning claiming "justice for the heavenly Ranjith Srinivasan".
"Justice for the heavenly Ranjith Srinivasan, who was brutally murdered by PFI terrorists. Mavelikkara Additional Sessions Court awarded death sentence to 15 accused in the case. Congratulations to the prosecution, investigating officers and lawyers," the party said.
The BJP's state unit boss, K Surendran, also posted on X, and took a political swipe at the ruling party , accusing it of having "taken a stance to support these criminals when their organisation was banned".
"Veera Balidhani Swargeeya Ranjith Sreenivasan received justice today.... Kerala BJP is welcoming the court verdict of death sentence for all PFI terrorists," Mr Surendran said.
"Many forces, including the state ruling party, had taken a stance to support these criminals when their organization was banned. But no force can prevail over the Judiciary of Bharat. We believe in the Law System, and finally, truth prevails.
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