Kozhikode, Saturday, February 06, 2010: The Special Additional District Sessions Court will today pronounce quantum of sentence for sixteen accused in the Marad Shimjith murder case. Earlier, the Court had found sixteen people guilty of the murder.

Four people were let off after the prosecution failed to produce evidence against them. There were 20 accused in the case. Six of them were convicted in the May 2, 2003 Marad massacre case and have been lodged at the Kannur Central Prison.

They are Seemamudakathu Latheef, 43; Pallithodi Abdul Rizan,29; Nalukudiparambu Manaf, 29; brothers Seemamudakathu Thajudeen, 34, Noufal, 30, Gafoor, 38 and Manaf, 32; brothers Erjuvindakathu Mustafa, 42 , Shafi, 38, Salim, 36 and Zakir, 32 ; Seemamudakathu Siyavudheen, 32; Thakkalathu Mustafa, 39; Parichendakathu Saidalavi alias Koyamon, 29; Erjuvindakathu Shihab, 28; Erjuvindakathu Faizal, 30; Seemamudakathu Sarfudeen, 31; Arayanveethil Anu alias Koyamon, 33; Puthenpeedikkal Ansu, 33 and Seemamudakathu Anafi, 38.

The Beypore police had charged them under Section 143, 147, 148, 149, 153-A, 302, 307, 336 and 396 of the Indian Penal Code. According to the prosecution, the accused murdered Shimjith around 8 p.m. on January 3, 2002.

There are 29 witnesses in the case. One of them was Pushparajan, who was killed a year later. He was Shimjith’s first cousin.
The Shimjith murder case is the 18th of the 67 cases registered in connection with the communal riots on January 3 and 4.

This is also the first of the murder cases in which the trial has been completed. Five persons were killed, several persons were injured and property worth crores of rupees was destroyed during the riots on these two days.