Fifty-one years after a Naxal chief was killed by the Kerala Police in a faux encounter, the CPI(M)-led LDF authorities on Wednesday determined to award a compensation of Rs 50 lakh to his 4 siblings.
A Varghese, who led an armed revolt in opposition to the exploitation of tribals within the Wayanad area, was killed on February 18, 1970 in a faux police encounter – reckoned as one of many first faux encounters within the nation.
Last month, his two brothers and two sisters moved the Kerala High Court, searching for to declare that they have been “legally entitled to be compensated with an amount of Rs 50 lakhs with interest… due to the murdering of Varghese”.
Hearing the petition, the federal government advised the court docket that if the petitioners favor a illustration inside two weeks, the respondents — the state chief secretary and the state DGP — will think about the illustration positively and move acceptable orders thereon.
Subsequently, the court docket allowed Varghese’s siblings to strategy the federal government. The cupboard determination to award them a compensation of Rs 50 lakh stemmed from this plan of action.
Following the killing of Varghese, 31, the police model of occasions had been extensively accepted. However, in 1998, retired constable Ramachandran Nair confessed that the encounter had been faux. It was then learnt that Varghese, together with his palms tied behind his again, was taken to Kumbarakkunni close to Thirunelli forest in Wayanad and shot lifeless.
Subsequently, a case was filed, making Nair the primary accused. Nair died in 2006, 4 years after the CBI submitted the chargesheet within the particular court docket. In 2010, a CBI court docket jailed retired IPS officer K Lakshmana at whose behest Nair had shot Varghese in police custody — Lakshmana had been a deputy SP in Wayanad on the time of killing.
