Former Kerala top cop Lakshmana freed from jail

Thiruvananthapuram A former inspector general of police in Kerala, K Lakshmana, who was convicted in the Naxalite Varghese case and was serving a life term in prison, has been freed following a remission granted by the state government. The remission was given to prisoners over the age of 75 and those who were having serious health problems.

The remission of jail terms also benefitted three other prisoners who met the conditions for the same. The other three were identified as Karuppuswami (82), Gopinathan (82) and Sreedharan (81). Lakshmana had been in jail since October 2010.

Lakshmana’s case pertains to the killing of Naxalite Varghese in the Tirunelli forests of Kerala’s Wayanad district in 1970. Varghese was believed to have been killed in an encounter with the police, but 28 years later in 1998 a constable, Ramachandran Nair, who had been part of the operation against Varghese, confessed that he had shot Varghese to death under instruction from Lakshmana.

The Central Bureau of Investigation probed the case, and Lakshmana was handed life term. Lakshmana has denied that he had instructed to kill Varghese. Relatives of Varghese said they would legally contest the government decision to free Lakshmana.