A witness in the T.P. Chandrasekharan murder case testified during the trial on Wednesday the involvement of the eighth accused, K.C. Ramachandran, member of the Kunnummakkara local committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], in hatching the conspiracy to kill the Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader.
Deposing before R. Narayana Pisharadi, Special Judge, Special Additional District and Sessions Court (Marad Cases), the witness Kattil Pushparajan aid he had seen Ramachandran hatching the conspiracy with the gang led by N.K. Sunil Kumar aka Kodi Suni at Sameera Apartments at Chokli to kill Chandrasekharan on April 10, 2012.
The case pertains to a gang allegedly hired by a section of CPI(M) leaders to kill Chandrasekharan at Onchiyam on May 4, 2012.
The witness said he had gone to Sameera Apartments scouting for migrants labourers for construction work at around 4.30 p.m. on that day. The door of one of the rooms in the southern side on the top floor was found to be closed, but voices could be heard. So he looked through an open window. Then a bearded bald man, who was in a white attire, was seen addressing a group. The others in the room were Kodi Suni, Trouser Manoj, M.C. Anoop, all accused in the case, Pushparajan said.
However they suddenly stopped talking after spotting him. Later, he came downstairs. A jeep and a motorcycle were parked in front of the apartment.
He later identified Ramachandran at the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Police at Vadakara. The witness also identified all the other accused in court.
Meanwhile, another prosecution witness, K.S. Niveth of Palloor, turned hostile, taking the total number of adverse witnesses to 48.
Previously, he had given a statement to the investigators that the mobile SIM card used by Ashwanth, the 19th accused, was taken in his name.
However, he retracted this statement, deposing that he did not know Ashwanth and that he had given the SIM card to his friend, Salman.
The court also examined C. Siju, videographer, who captured the images of the post-mortem examination of the body of Chandrasekharan; K. Vinod, who recovered the number plate of the Toyota Innova MUV used by the assailants; and K.C. Rafnas, who purchased the mobile phone from Thalassery that was used by Kodi Suni.
