51 years after fake encounter, govt announced compensation to victim's family

51 years after a fake encounter conducted through the Kerala Police, the state government has decided to pay compensation to the victim's family.

A Maoist leader named A. Varghese was killed by the Kerala Police in a fake encounter on 18 February 1970. Last month, Varghese's brother and sister filed an appeal in the Kerala High court seeking compensation.

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The government had told the court that the family can talk to the government about this if they want to and then the CPM-led Left Front government decided to pay compensation of Rs 50 lakh.

After the encounter, the plea of ​​the police was accepted by almost all the people, but in the year 1998, a retired soldier Ramachandran Nair confessed that the encounter was fake.

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A case was filed after that. In 2010, a special CBI court convicted and sentenced retired IPS officer K Laxman to death. Laxman was the deputy SP at that time and on his orders, constable Ramachandran shot Varghese in police custody.

Following the killing of Varghese, 31, the police version of events had been widely accepted. However, in 1998, retired constable Ramachandran Nair confessed that the encounter had been fake. It was then learnt that Varghese, with his hands tied behind his back, was taken to Kumbarakkunni near Thirunelli forest in Wayanad and shot dead.

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Subsequently, a case was filed, making Nair the first accused. Nair died in 2006, four years after the CBI submitted the chargesheet in the special court. In 2010, a CBI court jailed retired IPS officer K Lakshmana at whose behest Nair had shot Varghese in police custody — Lakshmana had been a deputy SP in Wayanad at the time of killing.

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