Kanhangad: Peethambaran, the main accused in the Periya twin murder case, has refuted the charges levelled against him. Giving his statement before the court, Peethambaran alleged that the police had tortured him and that the confession was made under duress.
“The investigating officer threatened me while the other police officers subjected me to torture and made me confess,” Peethambaran said before the Hosdurg First Class Judicial Magistrate Court in Kerala's Kasaragod district.
According to Peethambaran, he had told some police personnel at Bekal police station, where he was kept in remand, that he had not committed the crime. His version is that the plan was to only thrash the two Youth Congress workers. However, some persons who accompanied him committed the murders on the spur of the moment.
Meanwhile, the court remanded the two accused, Peethambaran and Saji George.
Peethambaran’s earlier statement to the police mentioned that he killed the two persons under the influence of ganja. However, the former CPM local leader’s family had pointed out that he was a teetotaller. It was hard to believe that he would kill after using narcotic substances, they felt.
Saji was at the wheel of the vehicle that had knocked down the bike that the two victims, Sarathlal and Kripesh, were riding. He is a member of the CPM’s Echiladukkam branch committee. Owner of a shop selling interlocking tiles, Saji is an accused in several other cases also.
The Crime Branch Thursday took over the investigation into the killing of two Youth Congress workers, as the total number of arrests in the case climbed to seven with five more people being arrested, police said.
In a setback to the ruling CPM, its local committee member Peethambaran was arrested on February 19, in connection with the killings of Youth Congress activists Kripesh and Sarath Lal.
Kripesh and Sarath Lal, in their early twenties, were waylaid and attacked when they were returning home on February 17, after attending a function at Periya in Kasaragod district.
The opposition Congress and the BJP have alleged that the killings were executed with the knowledge and support of the CPM leadership, which the Left party has denied.
