In a major setback to the Kerala government, Periya twin murder case will now be investigated by the CBI.
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The high court division bench dismissed the state government appeal opposing a CBI probe and upheld the single judge observation.
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Youth Congress workers Sarath Lal and Kripesh were allegedly killed at Periya, Kasaragod, on February 17, 2019.
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Kripesh died on the spot while Sarath Lal died on the way to a hospital in Mangaluru.
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Hearing of the appeal petition was completed nine months ago.
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Due to delay in judgement, the kin of Sarath Lal and Kripesh approached the Kerala high court on August 24 seeking to issue a directive to the government to withdraw the appeal and transfer it to any other bench for fresh argument.
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Initially, the case was investigated by the Crime Branch special team. Former CPI (M) local secretary Peethambaran was the main accused.
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CPI (M) Uduma area secretary K Manikandan and CPI (M) Periya local committee secretary N Balakrishnan were among the 14 other accused in the case.
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Three accused including Manikandan and Balakrishnan were granted bail. The others are in remand.
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The Crime Branch had given a clean chit to CPI (M). However, parents of Kripesh and Sarath Lal approached the HC citing dissatisfaction.
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