CPM worker murder case: Kerala HC acquits 13 RSS workers

The Kerala High Court has acquitted 13 RSS workers in a case relating to the killing of a CPIM activist in Thiruvananthapuram in 2008, saying the prosecution had miserably failed to prove the incriminating circumstances against the accused.

The Kerala High Court has acquitted 13 RSS workers in a case relating to the killing of a CPI(M) activist in Thiruvananthapuram in 2008, saying the prosecution had miserably failed to prove the incriminating circumstances against the accused. A bench comprising Justices K Vinod Chandran and C Jayachandran, on Tuesday allowed the appeal filed by the RSS workers challenging a Sessions Court order convicting them.

The bench, in an order passed late on Tuesday, observed that the political rivalry was a simmering cauldron of intrigue, spite, and deceit, often spewing out the venom of hatred, in the form of mindless bloodshed.

''How events were portrayed before Court, smacks of a deliberate attempt to tutor witnesses and collect evidence, to define a scripted story. The sad saga of political rivalry and mindless killing, as we have noticed in many cases, tears under the social fabric of the State,'' it said.

''The yearly remembrances, only stoke the fires of rivalry and do not wipe the tears of the bereaved or awaken the conscience of those who matter. Another life is lost and yet another prosecution fails, both lying on the wayside, grim reminders to the society of the futility of it all. We cannot but acquit the accused of the charges leveled against them; the prosecution has miserably failed to prove the Incriminating circumstances against the accused.'' ''There is absolutely no evidence worth its salt, and the prosecution failed to prove any corroborative circumstance, but for the political rivalry existing between two groups,'' it added.

The court noted that the get-away of the accused was quick and the witnesses exaggerated the identification and the details of the get-away vehicles. On December 16, 2016, the Additional Sessions court in Thiruvananthapuram sentenced 13 RSS activists to double life imprisonment in connection with the murder of CPI(M) worker, V V Vishnu on April 1, 2008.

The lower court had found all 13 accused guilty of the murder of CPI(M) activist.