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On Saturday, Kerala court in this locality acquitted three RSS activists in a case involving the killing of a Madrassa teacher inside a mosque within the district back in 2017. The Kasaragod Principal Sessions Court Judge K K Balakrishnan acquitted Akhilesh, Jithin, and Ajesh, who are all from Kelugude, in connection with the case.
A Kerala Court in Kasaragod district on Saturday (March 30) delivered a judgment on a case that dates back to 2017, involving the brutal murder of a madrasa teacher, Muhammed Riyas. On a fateful night on March 20, 2017, 34-year-old Riyas was found murdered in his room next to the Muhayuddin Juma Masjid. The incident had since been a focal point of communal tension in the region.
Three men, Ajesh, 27, Nidhin Kumar, 26, and Akhilesh, 32, from Kudlu village in Kasaragod, were the prime suspects in this case. Having spent seven years in jail awaiting trial without bail, their fate was decided by the Kasaragod Principal Sessions Judge, K K Balakrishnan, who acquitted them, citing significant lapses in the police investigation.
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“it can be safely concluded that the investigation is not up to the standard and one sided. So, the accused are entitled to benefit of doubt,”
the judge proclaimed.
This extensive trial, involving the examination of 97 witnesses, review of 215 documents, and scrutiny of 45 material pieces of evidence, concluded with the filing of the chargesheet within a mere 90 days of the incident. Despite the swift legal proceedings, the judgment has left the victim’s family in profound despair. The verdict, especially the acquittal of the accused who had been denied bail for an extensive period, prompted the Maulavi’s family to express their disappointment, highlighting the lack of direct evidence linking the accused to the crime and questioning the motive suggested by the chargesheet—an attempt to incite communal unrest.
The prosecution’s allegations painted a grim picture of premeditated violence, accusing the trio of trespassing into the mosque premises “with the common intention to kill any Muslim”, citing their alleged involvement in previous attacks on members of the Muslim community. Nevertheless, the court found these allegations unproven, stating, “none of the three incidents allegedly projected as reason for enmity of accused against Muslim community is proved.” Moreover, the court noted the prosecution’s failure to establish any connection of the accused with the RSS, further diluting the case against them.
Critical of the police’s handling of the investigation, the court highlighted several investigative lapses, including the failure to examine three mobile phones, a memory card, and five SIM cards recovered from Riyas’s room immediately after the murder. The court also pointed out the reluctance to conduct DNA analysis on an old dhoti with blood samples from the first accused, calling it indicative of a one-sided investigation.
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Riyas’s wife, present during the judgment, labeled the verdict “disappointing”, a sentiment echoed by other family members who had not anticipated such an outcome. They stressed the absence of any direct connection between the accused and Maulavi, criticizing the police charge sheet for its failure to conclusively link the accused to the crime designed to stir communal unrest.
The case’s conclusion has also prompted political reactions, with Opposition Leader V D Satheesan condemning the outcome as indicative of police failure under Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s administration. Satheesan went as far as to question whether a secret understanding had been reached with the RSS to save the accused, casting a shadow of political intrigue over the legal proceedings.
This case’s resolution has not only left a family grappling with the loss of justice for their loved one but also sparked a broader debate on the effectiveness of police investigations and the interplay of politics and communal tensions in the legal system of Kerala.
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