A court in north Kerala on Tuesday sentenced two men — including a CPI(M) candidate contesting the local body elections — to 10 years in prison for attempting to kill police officers by hurling crude bombs during a protest over a decade ago. The convicted individuals, V.K. Nishad (35), a DYFI leader and LDF candidate from Payyannur Municipality, and T.C.V. Nandakumar (35) from Annur, received a combined punishment of 20 years’ rigorous imprisonment under multiple charges, along with a fine of ₹2.5 lakh. However, the court ruled that serving 10 years would suffice.
The verdict was pronounced by the Taliparamba Additional Sessions Court, a day after it found the duo guilty. Two others accused in the case — A. Mithun (36) and K.V. Kripesh (38) — were acquitted. The incident occurred on August 1, 2012, when crude bombs were allegedly thrown at police personnel during a protest against the arrest of CPI(M) leader P. Jayarajan, who had been taken into custody in connection with the killing of MSF leader Shuhaib.
Nishad, currently the Payyannur Block Secretary of the DYFI and a sitting councillor from Karamele West, is contesting this year’s elections from the Mottammal ward. Since the sentence had not been announced at the time of filing his nomination, he faced no legal obstacle to entering the race. To ensure the CPI(M) would not be left without a candidate if Nishad were later disqualified, party worker M. Harindran submitted papers as a dummy candidate and has not withdrawn his nomination.