CPM leader in Kerala sentenced to death, five others get life imprisonment for killing Congress worker

Alapuzha: A fast-track court has sentenced a former local secretary of the CPM to death and awarded life imprisonment to five others for the murder of a Congress worker at Chertala in 2009. [caption id=“attachment_4424723” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. Getty images[/caption] The Alapuzha fast-track court judge, Anil Kumar, pronounced the verdict on Saturday morning. The court found that R Baiju was the main conspirator in the case and awarded the death sentence to him. The prosecution case was that Baiju and the others went to the residence of Divakaran on 9 December, 2009, to sell a coir product as part of the then Left government’s scheme to promote such products. However, Divakaran refused to buy them, saying they were priced too high, leading to a heated argument. He was then hit on the head and suffered serious injuries. He succumbed at a hospital after a week.