STATE OF KERALA Vs. KRISHNAN

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The State of Kerala and two of its officers viz., the State Police Chief and the Station House Officer, Bekal Police Station have come up in appeal on being aggrieved by the judgment dated 30.9.2019 in W.P.(C)No.10265 of 2019. As per the impugned judgment, the learned Single Judge set aside the report filed under Section 173(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (for brevity ' Cr.P.C .' only) in Crime No.75/CB/KNR&KSD/2019 of Crime Branch, Kasaragod (Crime No.81 of 2019 of Bekal Police Station), before the committal Court viz., the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court-II, Hosdurg and transferred its investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). In this context, it is worthwhile to refer to the reliefs sought for, in the writ petition filed by respondents 1 to 4 herein. They read thus:-

(2.) A succinct narration of facts is inevitable for an appropriate disposal of this appeal. The writ petitioners/respondents 1 to 4 in this appeal are the parents of the two victims, namely, one Kripesh aged 21 years and one Sarath Lal @ Joshy, aged 24 years who were done to death on 17.2.2019 at about 7.45 p.m. at Kannadippara on the Kallyottu-Thannithodu road in Periya Village of Kasaragod District. Respondents 1 and 2 are the parents of deceased Kripesh and respondents 3 and 4 are the parents of deceased Sarath Lal @ Joshy. The First Information Statement was lodged by one Sreekumar (CW1) and on its basis FIR No.81/2019 was registered at Bekal Police Station under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the same day, in connection with the incident. On 18.2.2019, the District Police Chief, Kasaragod constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) for investigation of the said crime with Sri.Pradeepkumar.M., Deputy Superintendent of Police, C-Branch (District Crime Branch) as the Investigating Officer and the team consisted of two Deputy Superintendents of Police, three Inspectors and Cyber Cell Experts. On 21.2.2019 the case was transferred to Crime Branch and it was re- registered as Crime No.75/CB/KNR&KSD/2019 of Crime Branch, Kasargod. Sri.Pradeep.P.M., Dy.S.P., Crime Branch, Malappuram was appointed the Investigating Officer under the direct supervision of Sri.V.M.Mohammed Rafique, SP, CB, Ernakulam. Later, Sri.Sabu Mathew.K.M., SP, Crime Branch, Kottayam was made the Supervisory Officer in place of V.M.Mohammed Rafique and the SIT was reconstituted with 21 members. Sri.Pradeep.P.M. continues to be the Investigating Officer and this fact is evident from Exts.P24 and P25. The offences alleged in the case are punishable under Sections 143 , 147 , 148 , 341 , 326 , 201 , 212 , 120B , 118 and 302 r/w Section 149 , IPC .

(3.) The case of the prosecution, in short, as revealed from Ext.P24 final report is that in furtherance of the criminal conspiracy hatched between accused Nos.1 to 9 and 11, who are workers of the political party - CPI(M), the aforesaid Kripesh and Sarath Lal, who were Congress Party workers, were hacked to death, on 17.2.2019 at about 7.45 p.m. using swords and iron pipes. Going by Ext.P24, the accused ambushed and attacked the deceased with the intention to give a befitting reprisal for the attack and injury caused on CPI(M) Eachiladukkam Branch Secretary and Periya Area Committee Member - Peethambaran (A1) on 5.1.2019 at Kallyottu Town and also for the repeated attacks on CPI(M) workers by Congress workers in Kallyottu area. CW198, Dr.Gopalakrishna Pillai conducted autopsy on the bodies of the deceased from Pariyaram Medical College on 18.2.2019. The first accused was arrested on 19.2.2019. Accused No.2 had surrendered on 20.2.2019 and accused Nos.3 to 7 had surrendered on 21.2.2019. Upon their surrender, they were arrested on the said respective days. Accused No.8 was arrested on 16.5.2019. The dates of arrest of the others are as follows:- Accused No. Date of arrest A9 12.3.2019 A10 16.3.2019 A11} A12} 29.4.2019 A13} A14} 14.5.2019