Eleven activists of the Communist Party of India (CPM) were awarded life sentence by the Thalassery Additional District Sessions Court for assassinating a Bharatiya Janata Party worker on 6 March 2008.
The court pronounced the accused guilty of murder of the BJP worker Mahesh on Thursday (July 5).
According to media reports, the reason behind the murder was the anger over Mahesh quitting CPM and joining BJP. Severals similar incidents had reported earlier too.
The CPM workers attacked Mahesh, an auto driver, while he was waiting for passengers.
The convicted CPM supporters are P Dhanesh (36), N Uthaman (40), O Babu (40), Chemmeri Prakashan (42), Manoli Umesh (40), V Ranjith (40), N Mukesh (32), Karat Purushothaman (52), C Sunesh (32), M Suraj (34) and V Shoji (37).
Following this incident, reports of clashes between CPM and BJP workers emerged.
Last May, a similar incident took place where both CPM and BJP workers were murdered. The investigation of this case is under way.