Kochi: The Mavelikara Additional Sessions Court in Kerala has awarded capital punishment to all the 15 convicts in connection with Ranjith Sreenivas murder case on January 30. Ranjith Sreenivas, who was the state secretary of the BJP OBC morcha and a lawyer, was murdered brutally at his home in front of his family members, on December 19 2021.

According to sources, there were 56 cuts on his body while his face was defaced with weapons by the accused who belonged to the proscribed Popular Front of India (PFI).

Judge VG Sridevi pronounced the sentence on the accused in the murder case at 11 am on Tuesday. The court has found all the 15 accused guilty.

The court found that out of the fifteen defendants who were tried in the case, one to eight defendants were directly involved in the case and were found guilty of murder.

The court accepted the prosecution's contention that the accused nine to 12, who guarded Ranjith's house with deadly weapons to prevent him from escaping and to stop if anyone entered the house after hearing the screams, were guilty of murder under Section 149.

Also, the court found the accused 13 to 15, who led the conspiracies of this crime, guilty of murder. Prosecution has argued for maximum punishment citing it as the rarest of rare cases.
 

(With inputs from Aswin)