12 Nov 2009, 0242 hrs IST

Kerala News: KOLLAM, Kerala: The chairman of Punalur Municipality, M. A. Rajagopal, A local CPI (M) leader and another party worker were sentenced to life imprisonment by a local court here yesterday.

The case against the CPI (M) activists was that they hurled bombs and killed RSS worker Rajesh at Punalur in 2002, before Rajagopal became the municipal chairman.

Second class Judicial Magistrate, K K Gopalakirshnan, found Rajagopal and Santhosh alias Mariappan guilty of charges including murder, conspiracy and illegal possession of arms.

Five other accused in the case including district secretary of CPI-M's youth wing (DYFI), S Biju were acquitted in the case.

The case against the guilty was that they threw a country made bomb at Rajesh while he was sitting on the half-wall of a culvert on the road near Punalur town on June 9, 2002.