Periya Twin Murders Explained: CBI Files Chargesheet Implicating CPI(M) Leaders

CBI lists 24 persons, including CPI(M) leaders, as accused in the murder of two Youth Congress workers.

On 17 February 2019, Kripesh, 19, and Sarath Lal PK, 24, were killed in Periya in Kasargod district.

(Photo: Accessed by The Quint)

Kerala’s ruling party, CPI(M), is now caught in a controversy as Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed its chargesheet in Periya double murder case on Friday, 3 December. The CBI chargesheet lists 24 persons, including CPI(M) district leaders and a former MLA KV Kunjiraman, as accused in the murder of two Youth Congress workers – Kripesh, 19, and Sarath Lal PK, 24.

The youth were killed in Periya of Kasargod district on 17 February 2019.

The chargesheet was filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ernakulam, two days after the CBI arrested five CPI(M) leaders including Raju, Vishnu Sura, S Madhu, Reji Varghese and Hari Prasad, in connection with the case.

Both the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have alleged that the killings were done with the knowledge and support of the CPI(M) state leadership. The ruling party has categorically denied this.

What has the investigation into the case revealed, thus far?

The Murder Plan

The CBI's investigation has revealed that the murder was designed in a way that each accused had a specific task to execute, Malayala Manorama reported.

The Onmanorama report says that there were four teams involved in the murder. One was tasked to be assailants, the second team kept the accused informed of the whereabouts of the victims, the third team managed the murder weapons and vehicle, and the fourth ensured destruction of all crucial evidence from the scene.

The two activists were attacked by three motorcycle-borne men while returning from an event. Kripesh died at the Kasargod district hospital and Sarath succumbed to injuries on his way to a medical facility in Mangaluru, Karnataka.

There were deep lacerations on their bodies. Kripesh’s skull was split in two and Sarath’s leg bones were deeply cut. Forensic experts claimed there were at least 20 injuries on Sarath’s body, newspaper reports say.

The Key Accused

A Peethambaran: A local leader of CPI(M), he is accused number one in the case. When the investigation was first with Kerala police's Crime Branch, he had confessed to having killed the two youngsters.

Saji C George: He is said to have driven the vehicle that had rammed into the bike that the two victims were driving. Saji has a history of criminal cases.

Gopakumar alias Gopan Velutholi: He is reported to have arranged a vehicle and hideout for the accused. He also provided shelter for other accused persons Balakrishnan and Sandeep. He and co-accused Sandeep in their bike followed a car in which accused persons were dropped at the CPI(M) party office. The car was owned by the ninth accused Murali and driven by one Alakkode Mani.

PV Sandeep alias Sandeep Velutholi: He reportedly followed the murderers to ensure their safety and helped in getting rid of the blood-stained clothes. He was also allegedly responsible for helping Subeesh escape to Bengaluru.

KV Kunhjiraman: Kunhiraman was MLA of Uduma constituency, in 2001 and 2006. Now, he is one of the nine members of the CPI(M)’s powerful district secretariat.

The CBI has clarified that it has not arrested him because he was not directly involved in the double murder. He along with Raghavan Velutholi and KV Bhaskar forcefully took away one of the main accused, Saji George, from police custody at Pakkam on the night of 18 February, case suggests. Kunhiraman is charged with IPC Section 225 (rescuing an accused from lawful custody) and Section 120 B (conspiracy to rescue the accused from custody), The New Indian Express reported.

Curious Case of Subeesh

Subeesh, a native of Kundamkuzhi in Bedakam, is a worker affiliated to the CITU, the CPI(M)'s trade union. Subeesh was the only person 'hired' by A Peethambaran to execute the crime, the first investigation done by Kerala police's Crime Branch had revealed.

He was the only one who fled abroad after the crime and stayed there for 88 days. He returned on 16 May 2019. The Crime Branch arrested him from Mangaluru International Airport and produced him before the court, which remanded him in custody the same day.

In an interesting turn of events, Subeesh’s motorcycle was found to be missing from the custody of the Crime Branch on 11 August 2021.

Officers of the Crime Branch reportedly 'realised' the motorcycle was missing when they were trying to hand over the evidence to the CBI, when they took over the case. Subeesh had used the vehicle to come to the crime scene.

In the CBI's chargesheet Subeesh is now accused number eight.

State Spends Rs 90 lakh to Stop Takeover by CBI

The case was first investigated by Kerala police's Crime Branch. However, the Kerala High Court on 30 September 2019 quashed the Crime Branch's chargesheet.

The High Court said that the chargesheet was written based on the statements of the accused and it did not conduct forensic tests on the weapons allegedly used to kill the two men. The Crime Branch had also listed rods as weapons used to attack the two Youth Congress workers even as the postmortem report had no corroborating evidence.

Responding to a petition filed by the victims' families, who accused CPI(M) workers of interfering in the investigation, the court handed over the case to the CBI. The CBI took over the investigation on 14 December 2020.

The LDF government had opposed the CBI from taking over the investigation and challenged it in the Supreme Court.

The state government spent Rs 90.92 lakh on advocates to appear in Supreme Court and secure a favourable verdict, revealed an RTI, as reported by Mathrubhumi. But after two years, the top court on 1 December 2020, rejected the state government’s appeal.

CPI(M) Refutes Allegations

Meanwhile, CPI(M) has alleged that the CBI has accused a number of innocent persons of committing the crime. The party also alleged that the police were acting on the instructions of Congress workers.

The party has been trying to help the families of the accused as well. The wives of the main accused – Peethambaram, Saji George and KM Suresh –were posted as part-time sweepers at Kasargod district hospital. But following backlash, they were removed from their positions. Later two of them were provided jobs in medical centres.

CPI(M) Kasargod secretary MV Balakrishnan told Manorama News on 2 December that the party was unaware of the crime and that they would fight the case legally.