The sensational Periya twin murder case in the Kasargod district of Kerala — from more than a decade ago — is now taking a curious turn
On 17 February 2010, Youth Congress workers Kripesh (19) and Sarath Lal (24) were hacked to death, allegedly by a CPI(M) hit squad.
Now, veteran criminal lawyer CK Sreedharan has decided to appear on behalf of the accused in a CBI court where the trial will begin on 2 February next year.
The twist? Sreedharan is a former vice-president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and a close confidant of the families of Kripesh and Sarath Lal.
He ended his long-term political association with Congress recently and took primary membership in CPI(M).
Now, families of the killed workers and Congress leadership in Kerala allege that Sreedharan’s decision to defend the accused in the trial court involves a large-scale conspiracy involving Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who has so far spent ₹90 lakh from the state exchequer — albeit in vain — to stop the CBI investigation in the case.
The Kerala government approached even the Supreme Court and said the local police investigation absolved CPI(M) leaders — including former MLA KV Kunjiraman — of charges of being involved in political interference, but the courts rejected the argument.
They ordered a CBI investigation allowing the grievances aired by the families of the deceased.
Accusation and counter-accusation
When South First contacted Sreedharan, he defended his decision to switch loyalty by saying that a criminal lawyer can appear on behalf of any accused if the fee and other conditions match.
He also denied the allegations that the CPI(M) gave him the responsibility to defend the case in the CBI court. “The relatives of the accused have entrusted me with the task,” he said.
However, Sarath Lal’s father Sathyanarayanan accused Sreedharan of cheating the two families. He told South First that the two families would launch another legal war to lift the lid off the “conspiracy” involving Vijayan and Sreedharan to sabotage the case.
“As the top Congress leader of our district Kasargod and most eminent criminal lawyer, Sreedharan was with us from the very moment the murders were committed. We consulted him on every move and even shared evidence. We hid nothing from him. He collected everything from the prosecution side by pretending to be our friend and well-wisher. Now, he will use them against us,” alleged Sathyanarayanan.
The Congress leadership in Kerala accused the CPI(M) of offering a lot of money to Sreedharan to ensure the acquittal of the accused, who allegedly killed the youths purely for political reasons.
The latest developments are taking place at a time when the CPI(M) is planning to offer some pivotal party positions to Sreedharan as a reward for his decision to leave the Congress.
Sreedharan left the Congress and joined the CPI(M) after Vijayan on 19 October launched in Kasargod his autobiography, the content of which no CPI(M) cadre could digest.
However, Vijayan chaired a Cabinet meeting that morning, rushed to the Thiruvananthapuram airport, flew out to Kannur, and then dashed via road for three hours to Kanhangad in Kasaragod — more than 500 km from the state capital — to release the book.
Sreedharan’s autobiography, Jeevitham, Niyaman, Nilapadukal (Life, Law, Standpoints), narrates how he, as a criminal lawyer, helped the Congress win legal wars against the CPI(M).
Besides being the vice-president of the KPCC for a long time, Sreedharan was district committee president and chief of the party’s political affairs committee.
Sreedharan’s legacy
For the CPI(M), Sreedharan was a persona non grata till October. After all, as a public prosecutor, he ensured jail for several CPI(M) leaders and cadres involved in political murders in the Kozhikode, Kannur, and Kasaragod districts for over half a century.
Prominent among the cases was the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader TP Chandrasekharan, known more by his initials “TP”, at Onchiyam near Vadakara on 4 May, 2012.
The brutal murder had shocked Kerala, and the then Opposition leader, CPI(M) veteran VS Achuthanandan, visited the slain leader’s residence, much to the chagrin of the Marxist party.
As the public prosecutor, Sreedharan ensured the conviction of nine hired assassins and three party leaders who carried out the murder to avenge Chandrasekharan’s defiance of the CPI(M) in the party’s traditional strongholds Onchiyam and Eranmala.
A CPI(M) splinter group, the RMP claims to be the real Marxist party that upholds Communism and internal democracy.
Chandrasekharan floated the organisation after expulsion from the CPI(M) in 2008.
The RMP’s local influence soon became a matter of consternation for the CPI(M).
Betrayal or change of heart?
A month after the Kanhangad function, Sreedharan left Congress and took primary membership in the CPI(M) at the insistence of Vijayan.
His switching floors once again made the investigation and trial in the Chandrasekharan murder case a point of discussion in Kerala. Now, the Periya case adds fuel to the fire.
KPCC president K Sudhakaran challenged Sreedharan’s professional integrity, given his stand in the two sensational murder cases.
The Congress leader earlier said Sreedharan deliberately watered down the Chandrasekharan murder case to allow senior CPI(M) leader P Mohanan, allegedly one of the key conspirators in the case, to walk free.
Now, Sudhakaran alleges Sreedharan took the task from the CPI(M) to protect Kunhiraman and nine others from murder charges by fighting the case in the CBI trial court.
He said we would go to any extent to fight and expose Sreedharan.
Sudhakaran, once a confidant of Sreedharan, also said the CPI(M) gifted him its primary membership to help Mohanan and Kunhiraman escape punishment.
The Kasaragod district unit of the CPI(M) struggled to explain why the party accommodated Sreedharan, especially when he had almost retired from the legal profession and political activities.
Now, the party is projecting Sreedharan as a top lawyer who can protect its leaders from the trial court.
In Kasaragod, CPI(M) cadres have regarded Sreedharan as their arch-enemy ever since he defended and secured the acquittal of 53 Congress workers accused of murdering five party workers at Cheemeni on 23 March, 1987, during the Assembly election.
The CPI(M) still sees the Cheemeni massacre as an extreme form of Congress brutality. Yet, the CPI(M) now claims Sreedharan would be an asset to the party as an able criminal lawyer.
