Shan was killed on 18 December, 2021, in Mannancherry, and the following day BJP leader Ranjith Srinivasan was murdered in Alappuzha.
Published Sep 22, 2025 | 8:09 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 22, 2025 | 8:09 PM
Supreme Court
Synopsis: The violent incidents began at 7 pm on 18 December, 2021, when the group attacked the SDPI state secretary KS Shan (38) in Mannanchery with lethal weapons when he was on his way back home after meeting some friends. The attackers, who came in a car, knocked Shan down from his motorbike and hacked him 40 times. The gang comprised four people.
The Supreme Court has granted bail to four RSS workers accused in the 2021 murder of SDPI leader Shan in Alappuzha.
A bench led by Justice Deepankar Dutt overturned the Kerala High Court earlier order that had revoked their bail.
The accused, Abhimanyu, Athul, Sanand, and Vishnu, were released on the condition that they must not influence witnesses, with the trial court free to set further terms.
Shan was killed on 18 December, 2021, in Mannancherry, and the following day BJP leader Ranjith Srinivasan was murdered in Alappuzha.
Earlier, the trial court had sentenced 15 people to death in connection with Shan’s murder.
The coastal district of Alappuzha in Kerala witnessed a tense situation in 2021 following the brutal murder of two political rivals at a gap of twelve hours since the night of 18 December that year.
The violent incidents began at 7 pm on 18 December, 2021, when the group attacked the SDPI state secretary KS Shan (38) in Mannanchery with lethal weapons when he was on his way back home after meeting some friends.
The attackers, who came in a car, knocked Shan down from his motorbike and hacked him 40 times. The gang comprised four people.
Shan breathed his last at around 1 am on 19 December 2021, at a private hospital in Kochi, where he was brought to after the attack.
In retaliation, BJP OBC morcha state secretary Ranjith Sreenivasan (40) was killed by the now-convicted SDPI activists who barged into his residence at Vellakinar in Alappuzha and hacked him in front of his wife and aged mother. He died on the spot.
Ranjith was a BJP candidate in the Alappuzha constituency in the Assembly election held in April 2021 in Kerala. The incident occurred at around 7 am on 19 December 2021. Both Shan and Ranjith were practising advocates in the Alappuzha court.
(Edited by Sumavarsha, with inputs from Sreelakshmi Soman)
