TPC murder case trial ends, verdict on Jan. 22

Kozhikode: The Special Additional and Sessions Court Judge R. Narayana Pisharadi will pronounce the judgment in the  T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case on January 22.

This was stated by special public prosecutor C.K. Sreedharan after winding up the arguments in the case on Friday.  The defence counsel also completed their arguments. The trial  lasted for one year and the court will pronounce the judgment on 36 accused in the case.

Originally, the probe team had submitted a list of 76  as accused  and the trial of 72 persons commenced  in December. The prosecution itself had left out two from the accused list while two others remained untraced. 

Out of 72, the trial court  exonerated 20  while the Kerala High Court stayed the trial of another 15. C.H. Ashokan, one of the accused,  died while the trial was progressing.

T.P. Chandrasekharan, a prominent leader of the CPM at the Onchiyam area, left the party in 2008 and floated the Revolutionary Marxist Party in 2009.  The RMP won the elections in Onchiyam panchayat and played a crucial role in the  defeat of the CPM candidate in the Vadakara Lok Sabha seat in the last Parliament elections.

Chandrasekharan was killed by a seven-member gang on May 4, 2012 at Vallikkad following a conspiracy hatched allegedly by the CPM. The CPM Kozhikode district secretariat member P. Mohanan and Panur area committee member P.K. Kunhananthan are the prominent leaders in the list of the accused. Out of the 284 witnesses,  the prosecution examined 166.  There was a controversy when over  50 prosecution witnesses changed sides.