CPM leader in Kerala sentenced to death, five others get life imprisonment for killing Congress worker

Alapuzha: A fast-track court has sentenced a former local secretary of the CPM to death and awarded life imprisonment to five others for the murder of a Congress worker at Chertala in 2009.[caption id="attachment_4424723" align="alignleft" width="380"] Representational image. Getty images[/caption]The Alapuzha fast-track court judge, Anil Kumar, pronounced the verdict on Saturday morning.The court found that R Baiju was the main conspirator in the case and awarded the death sentence to him.The prosecution case was that Baiju and the others went to the residence of Divakaran on 9 December, 2009, to sell a coir product as part of the then Left government's scheme to promote such products.However, Divakaran refused to buy them, saying they were priced too high, leading to a heated argument. He was then hit on the head and suffered serious injuries. He succumbed at a hospital after a week.