Physical-distancing norms imposed due to the COVID-19 outbreak are holding up the trial in the Abhimanyu murder case as the second anniversary of the murder of the student leader fell on July 2.
The prosecution case is that the SFI leader of Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, was killed by members of the Campus Front as part of a larger conspiracy to terrorise the campuses of the State.
With all the accused in the case being nabbed and charge sheets submitted, the prosecution is all set for beginning trial proceedings in the case. However, it will not be possible to bring all the 16 accused in the case to the court room during the pandemic period and have a full-fledged trial as physical-distancing norms have to be observed in court halls too, according to G. Mohanraj, the Special Prosecutor in the case.
Currently, a trial court in Ernakulam has posted the case for September. “If the public health situation improves before the scheduled date, the prosecution will move the court for expediting the trial,” he said.
A couple of accused had been arrested by the police shortly after the murder. The police could track the identity of the accused by collecting evidence like CCTV camera footage, the tower location of their mobile phones and the bikes used by them to arrive at the scene of the crime. Corroborative evidence to prove the culpability of the accused was also gathered during the investigation, according to the prosecution.
Conspiracy angle
A police investigation into the larger conspiracy to infuse fear into the campuses of the State is yet to be completed. The team, which probed the killing of the student leader, is also probing into the case.
The involvement of persons, who were not students, in the crime and the provocation they created, which culminated in the murder of the student leader, were indications of the larger conspiracy hatched by some quarters. The murder of Abhimanyu was the outcome of the conspiracy, according to the prosecution.
The killing of the student leader, who hailed from a poor family in Vattavada, in Idukki, had evoked widespread social reactions.
