Kasaragod: Nearly 19 years after Indian National League (INL) activist Eriyal Abid was hacked to death in broad daylight, a sessions court in Kasaragod has acquitted all five accused who stood trial, adding another political murder to the district's long list of murder cases that have collapsed in court.

The verdict by Additional Sessions Court-III Judge Achindya Raj Unni comes less than two years after four BJP-RSS workers were convicted in the 2008 murder of Bilal Mosque committee president C A Mohammed, the only communal or political murder case in the district to end in conviction in nearly two decades.  

The Additional Sessions Court on Tuesday, June 30, acquitted Shamsudheen, Rafiq, K M Rafiq, Abdul Jalil and P H Haris, citing lack of evidence. The sixth accused, Umar, remains absconding and did not face trial. Proceedings against him have been split up and will continue if he is arrested.

Abid, 24, was the son of Moideen and the late Mariam Beevi of Eriyal in Mogral-Puthur panchayat, on the outskirts of Kasaragod town. An active worker of the INL and the Eriyal Youth Cultural Centre (EYCC), he was attacked by a motorcycle-borne gang in Eriyal around 5.30 pm on November 20, 2007, and died at the scene.

Police had described the murder as a revenge attack arising from an earlier assault involving the brother of one of the accused.

The killing sparked widespread protests. EYCC activists marched to the office of the District Police Chief, demanding the immediate arrest of the accused, and submitted petitions to the state government and the then Home Minister. Following sustained public pressure, the accused surrendered before the court. After obtaining bail, allegations surfaced that some of them had left the country.

The case was investigated by the then Kasaragod town SI V Balakrishnan, who is now a senior officer.

Like several other high-profile murder cases in the district, the prosecution steadily unravelled during the trial. Faisal, the complainant and a friend of the victim, and several eyewitnesses turned hostile, forcing the prosecution to rely largely on circumstantial and scientific evidence. Of the 30 witnesses cited, only 23 were examined.

The prosecution's case suffered further setbacks when the testimonies of two principal witnesses, Ibrahim Khalil and Arshad, contradicted each other. The court also found serious investigative lapses, including the failure to produce crucial forensic evidence such as fingerprint records.

With Tuesday's verdict, eight of the 11 political or communal murders investigated in Kasaragod since 2007 have ended in acquittals at the trial court. The victims include BJP-RSS worker B Sandeep, INL activist Eriyal Abid, teenager Mohammed Sinan, Youth League worker Muhammed Azharuddin, DYFI leader Abdul Sattar, auto driver Upendran, textile workers Rishad and Sabith, and muezzin Mohammed Riyas Moulavi. Two cases, those relating to the murders of RSS leader P Suhas and SDPI activist Zainul Abid, are still pending trial.