Kasaragod: In two days, the LDF government has granted parole to three CPM workers serving double life terms for the double murder of Youth Congress activists Kripesh and Sarathlal in Periya.

On Tuesday, A Peethambaran, the first accused and former CPM Periya Local Committee member, walked out of Kannur Central Prison. A day earlier, the second accused, Saji George, and the seventh accused, A  Ashwin, were released. All three were granted 30 days' parole on the condition that they do not enter the limits of the Bekal Police Station, where the victims’ families live.

Peethambaran will be staying in Ravaneshwar, close to Periya, but in the Hosdurg Police Station Limit. District Congress president P K Faisal said parole pleas of the fifth accused, Gijin Gangadharan, and the 15th accused, A Surendran alias Vishnu Sur, are now before the Kannur Prison Advisory Board. He pointed out that CPM strongman P Jayarajan, who had personally received the convicts when they were shifted to Kannur Jail after conviction, sits on this Advisory board. "Granting parole less than a year after conviction is a challenge to the rule of law and a recipe for unrest ahead of the local body polls," Faisal said.

Sarathlal's father, Sathyanarayanan, recalled that police had sought his opinion on releasing Anil Kumar alias Abu (11th accused) on parole last month. "I strongly objected, listing clear reasons. Their presence can trigger law and order problems. But the government ignored not only my objections but also the Bekal Police's report, and released him for 20 days," he said.

His fears came true. Soon after Anil Kumar's release, Congress supporters, many of them women, attempted a protest march from Kalliyot, where the murders took place, to Echiladukkam, a CPM stronghold where the conspiracy was allegedly hatched. Police blocked the march and eventually used water cannons to disperse the protesters, said Adv M K Baburajan, Congress leader and Kanhangad Block Panchayat member from Periya Division.

On January 3 this year, the Special CBI Court in Ernakulam sentenced 10 CPM workers to double life imprisonment for conspiracy and murder of the Youth Congress workers. Kripesh alias Kichu and Sarathlal alias Joshy were hacked to death in Kalliyot on February 17, 2019.

The same court convicted four CPM leaders, including former Udma MLA and CPM district secretariat member K V Kunhiraman, and Kanhangad Block Panchayat president and CPM district committee member K Manikandan, for freeing Saji C George from police custody. They are out on bail after the High Court suspended their five-year sentence, citing the backlog of appeals. Ten other CPM workers were acquitted for lack of evidence. The victims' families have asked Adv T Asaf Ali to appeal those acquittals. "We will also challenge the parole and move the court to shift the convicts from Kannur Central Prison to Viyyur," said Sathyanarayanan. "Earlier, the CBI court had pulled up the Kannur Prison superintendent for permitting Peethambaran to stay in an Ayurveda hospital for nearly a month without authorisation," he said.

Adv Baburajan accused the government of misusing parole provisions meant only for emergencies.
He cited Monday's incident when Gijin’s father, Sastha Gangadharan, clashed with Congress’s Thannithode ward president M Padmakumar Mooriyanam, a key CBI witness who had testified about the destruction of evidence, including the burning of Gijin's clothes after the murders. Gangadharan, his brother Sastha Madhu (A16), and trader Regi Varghese (A17), both acquitted -- allegedly rounded up Padmakumar, verbally abused him, and threatened to stab him, he said.

Padmakumar filed a complaint at the Bekal Police on Tuesday. "But police recorded Gangadharan's statement Monday night and by early morning had registered an FIR against Padmakumar," Baburajan said.

District Congress president Faisal alleged that the government's actions reveal a deliberate attempt to shield the convicts. "If these paroles rupture the fragile peace of the region, the full responsibility will lie with the police and the government," he warned, adding that Congress would legally challenge the decision to grant parole en masse.