Setback for CBI as court acquits 6 of 10 persons charged by agency

It allows four of six accused to continue on bail till announcement of sentence. The four accused could get a punishment of up to seven years' imprisonment

- TOBY ANTONY @Kochi

THE verdict in the Periya twin murder case is a setback to the CBI as six of the 10 persons arraigned by the agency were acquitted by the court.

The CBI court also allowed four of the six accused in the case to continue on bail till the announcement of the sentence on January 3, despite strong objections raised by the agency. The four accused, including former CPM MLA K V Kunhiraman, could get a punishment of up to seven years' imprisonment.

The state government had challenged the High Court's decision to allow a CBI investigation in the Periya case before the Supreme Court. After taking over the probe, the central agency arraigned 10 more persons accused in the case. Earlier, the Crime Branch had filed a chargesheet against 14 CPM workers in the case, viz., A Surendran, Madhu A, Reji Varghese, Hariprasad A, Rajesh P, K V Kunhiraman, Raghavan Velutholy, K V Bhaskaran, Gopa Kumar V, Sandeep P V. Of these, Madhu, Reji, Hariprasad, Rajesh, Gopa Kumar and Sandeep were acquitted by the court. They were identified as key convicts.