Death Penalty for 15 in Ranjith Sreenivasan Murder Case
In a significant development, the Mavelikara Additional District Sessions Court-I has sentenced 15 individuals to death for the murder of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ranjith Sreenivasan. The BJP State secretary and lawyer were brutally hacked to death at his home in Alappuzha municipality on December 19, 2021.
The convicts, associated with the now proscribed Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political arm Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), received the death penalty for the rarest of rare cases. The court’s decision, made on January 30, 2024, follows the conviction of all 15 accused on January 20 under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code. The murder was deemed a retaliatory act linked to the killing of SDPI’s State secretary K. S. Shan, allegedly by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activists, triggering fears of communal tensions in Kerala.
