Thalassery, Wednesday, April 20, 2011: Twenty-four CPM activists who were found guilty by the District and Sessions Court in a case relating to the murder of Ammukkutty Amma and Shihab during an outbreak of political violence in May 2002, have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

They were also slapped with a fine of Rs 15,000 each. The Court had earlier deferred the award of sentence to the convicts to April 20.

District and Sessions Judge N. Thulasibhai, in her judgment in the case, found 24 of the total 25 accused, all CPI(M) workers, guilty of the murder of 70-year-old Ammukkutty Amma of Thillankery, near Iritty, and 22-year-old Shihab, a jeep driver from nearby Padikkachalil, in an attack at Thillankery on May 23, 2002.

One of the accused in the case is absconding and the case against him would be considered separately.

The accused in the case were found guilty under various Sections of IPC including Section 302 (murder). The trial in the case began on August 18, 2007.

(News agency)