KOCHI: Kerala high court on Wednesday suspended the sentence of four accused, including a former CPM MLA, who were sentenced to five years imprisonment in connection with the murder of two Youth Congress workers at Periya in Kasaragod district five years ago.
A bench of Justices P B Suresh Kumar and Jobin Sebastian put on hold the five-year sentence of former MLA and CPM district functionary K V Kunhiraman, Kanhangad block panchayat president K Manikandan, Raghavan Velutholi, and A V Bhaskaran on their appeal against their conviction and subsequent punishment. The high court said that when there was only a fixed term of sentence and the appeal was not likely to be heard before completing it, under normal circumstances, “the execution of the sentence passed against the accused shall be suspended and they shall be enlarged on bail”.
The bench said that presently, the HC was taking up for hearing and disposal various other criminal cases in which accused persons were in custody since 2018.
“In other words, the above appeal (of the accused) was not likely to be taken up for hearing before the applicants complete their fixed term of sentence. That apart, it has been the practice of this court to suspend the execution of term sentences in cases of similar nature.
The case pertains to the murder of Youth Congress workers Kripesh, 19, and Sarath Lal P K, 24, allegedly by CPM workers on Feb 17, 2019.
