The Thalasserry district and sessions court, India,...

The Thalasserry district and sessions court, India, sentenced to death M. Shaji, a member of the RSS, and sentenced nine others to life imprisonment for the murder of P. Kanakaraj, a CPM activist, outside his house in Panoor, Kannur district, on December 2, 1999. This was the second death sentence issued in two months for a politically motivated murder following the conviction of 9 CPM activists on August 21 for the murder of school teacher Jayakrishnan. Kanakaraj was killed the day after Jayakrishnan was murdered before his students in the East Mokeri Upper Primary School. Kanakaraj's mother died a few days after witnessing her son's death. For the last two decades the two cadre-based parties, the CPM and the RSS, have been engaged in a bloody battle in Kannur.