A court in Kerala’s Thalassery district on Thursday sentenced six workers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to life in prison for murdering a leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 2002.
The prosecution told the court that the six men had entered an automobile showroom in Panoor town on February 5, 2002, and hacked Thazheyil Ashraf, the CPI(M) leader, to death, The Times of India reported. The trial in the case began only in October 2011.
On Thursday, the Additional District Sessions Court sentenced the six men and also ordered them to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 each, which will be given to Ashraf’s family, The Hindu reported.
The court also sentenced each of them to a 10-year jail term and fined them Rs 20,000 for trespassing. The jail term will run concurrently, public prosecutor BP Saseendran said.

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