9 CPM men convicted for 2005 murder of BJP worker

Kannur: The Thalassery district sessions court in Kannur on Friday found nine CPM workers guilty in connection with the 2005 murder of BJP activist Elambilayi Suraj of Muzhappilangad. The court further acquitted tenth accused in the murder owing to lack of evidence. The court will pronounce the quantum of punishment on Monday.Among those convicted include TK Rajesh, who was also an accused in the TP Chandrasekharan murder, PM Manoraj Narayanan who is the brother of chief minister's press secretary PM Manoj, NV Yogesh, K Shyamjith, Neyyoth Sajeevan, Prabhakaran, KV Padmanabhan, Radhakrishnan and Pradeepan. The tenth accused in the case, Nagathankotta Prakashan, was acquitted. Two other accused — Shamsudeen and Raveendran — died before the trial proceedings.On Aug 7, 2005, 32-year-old Suraj was hacked to death outside the Muzhappilangad telephone exchange in broad daylight. It was alleged that the murder plan was hatched after Suraj left the CPM for the BJP.The prosecution argued that the victim was targeted by CPM workers for joining the saffron party. The accused arrived in an autorickshaw, threw a bomb at him, and attacked him with weapons.Initially, the police arrested 10 accused in the case. Later, based on a confession of TK Rajesh during the trial of TP Chandrasekharan murder case, the police added him and Manoraj Narayanan as accused. All the accused were convicted for murder and criminal conspiracy.Speaking to the mediapersons, special public prosecutor advocate P Premajan said justice has been served to Suraj after 20 years. It is expected that the convicts will get maximum punishment, he added.He added that the accused had attempted to kill Suraj in 2004 also. "He was bedridden for over six months following the attack. Local CPM leader Prabhakaran had lodged a fake complaint against Suraj prior to the assassination," the special prosecutor said.Senior lawyer CK Sreedharan appeared for the accused.