Kochi: The sentencing of 14 accused in the Periya twin murder case, where Youth Congress workers Kripesh Kalliyat and Sharath Lal were brutally hacked to death, was completed the other day. Among them, four CPI(M) leaders, who were sentenced to five years of imprisonment each, had filed an appeal, which will be heard by the High Court today.
The appeal also includes a petition seeking a stay on the implementation of the sentence until a final decision is made and a request for bail. If the High Court’s division bench accepts this petition, the execution of the sentence will be temporarily halted, and bail might be granted until a final verdict is reached.
The division bench comprising Justices P.B. Suresh Kumar and Jobin Sebastian will hear the appeals. The appeals challenge the five-year imprisonment handed down for the offense of having knowledge of the crime but failing to prevent it. CPI(M) district secretariat member and former Uduma MLA K.V. Kunhiraman, CPI(M) area secretary K. Manikandan, Raghavan Velutheri, and M.K. Bhaskaran are the leaders whose appeals are under the High Court’s consideration.
