Kerala HC convicts 8 in 2015 murder of DYFI activist

Democratic Youth Federation of India member CK Shibin was killed near Thuneri in Kozhikode district in 2015

The Kerala high court on Friday convicted eight of the 17 accused in the murder of Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) member CK Shibin near Thuneri in Kozhikode district in 2015.

The high court ruling followed a petition filed by the state police challenging the 2016 decision of the Kozhikode additional sessions court, which had acquitted all the 17 accused in the case. (PTI)

The division bench found the eight accused, purportedly linked to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), guilty of murdering the 19-year-old Left activist.

The convicted accused are Ismail, Muneer, Aslam, Siddique, Muhammed Anees, Shuhaib, Jasim and Samad. Police have been directed to arrest them and the punishment will be pronounced by the high court later this month.

The high court ruling followed a petition filed by the state police challenging the 2016 decision of the Kozhikode additional sessions court, which had acquitted all the 17 accused in the case.

Shibin was killed by an armed gang around 10pm on January 22, 2015 at Vellur near Thuneri in what was seen as an episode of political murder.

The sessions court in Kozhikode had then said that the prosecution was unable to prove beyond reasonable doubt the charges filed against the accused. The court had also said that the FIR was deliberately delayed following discussions with party leaders.

Advocate SU Nazar, who appeared for the state police, said, “The high court has found that the trial court made lapses in examining the evidence. It has underlined that the trial court judgment talked about political issues and failed to assess the key evidence in the case.”