Kerala Court Awards Death Sentence to 15 PFI-SDPI Members for 2021 Murder of BJP Leader Ranjith Sreenivasan

*Rare Verdict in Alappuzha District as Court Pronounces Death Penalty in Front of Family Murder

In a landmark verdict, an additional district sessions court in Kerala’s Alappuzha district handed down the death sentence to 15 individuals associated with the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its political wing, the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), for the brutal murder of BJP leader Ranjith Sreenivasan in 2021. The verdict, delivered by Additional District Session Court-I Judge Sreedevi V, marked a significant development in the case that shocked the state.

Ranjith Sreenivasan, the 45-year-old state secretary of the BJP OBC Morcha, was hacked to death in front of his wife, mother, and minor daughter on December 19, 2021, in Alappuzha town. The court identified all 15 convicts, including Naisam, Ajmal, Anoop, Mohammed Aslam, Abdul Kalam alias Salam, Saffaruddin, Manshad, Jaseeb Raja, Navas, Sameer, Nazir, Abdul Kalam, Zakir Hussain, Shaji, and Shernas Ashraf, as responsible for the heinous crime.

The prosecution presented evidence that SDPI-PFI activists had compiled a hit list, with Ranjith at the top, discovered on the mobile phone seized from the third accused, Anoop. Ranjith’s wife, Lisha, expressed satisfaction over the verdict, emphasizing the brutality of the attack on her husband.

“This cannot be seen as a murder. It is a rarest of rare case. My husband was brutally attacked in front of us,” she said.

The investigation revealed that Ranjith’s murder was orchestrated shortly after the killing of SDPI leader K S Shan on December 18, allegedly by a gang associated with the RSS-BJP in Mannanchery, Alappuzha. Shan, 39, was attacked while on a two-wheeler, falling victim to a car-borne gang that struck him from behind, leading to a fatal hacking.

Subsequently, Ranjith Sreenivasan became the target, with eight of the 15 convicted individuals directly involved in executing the gruesome murder. CCTV footage from the area showed a 12-member gang arriving at Ranjith’s house on six bikes before carrying out the fatal attack.

The murders sparked protests from both BJP and SDPI activists, prompting heightened police vigilance across the state. The rare death sentence underscores the severity of the crime and the court’s determination to bring the perpetrators to justice.

The Popular Front of India (PFI) was banned in 2022, further emphasizing the government’s commitment to curbing extremist activities in the region. The convicted individuals have the option to appeal the verdict, but the court’s decision signals a strong stance against political violence in the state.