Thiruvananthapuram: A dozen people have been convicted of murdering Revolutionary Marxist Party chief T.P. Chandrasekharan, in a sensational case that shocked India’s Kerala state in 2012.

The special additional sessions court at Eranhipalam in Kozhikode will hand down sentence on Thursday.

Twenty-four other accused in the case were acquitted by Judge R. Narayana Pisharadi.

Of the 12 who were convicted, seven were identified as being part of the gang that committed the murder on May 4, 2012. The seven were M.C. Anoop, Kirmani Manoj, Kodi Suni, T.K. Rajeesh, Mohammad Shafi, Annan Shijith and K. Shinoj. Besides the seven, Communist Party of India Marxist members (CPM) K.C. Ramachandran, “Trouser” Manoj, P.K. Kunjananthan, P.V. Rafeeq and M.K. Pradeepan were also found guilty.

CPM Kozhikode district secretariat member P. Mohanan and the party’s Onchiyam area committee member K.K. Krishnan were among those acquitted.

Initially there were 76 accused in the case and 286 prosecution witnesses. However, a number of witnesses turned hostile during the trial period. The charge sheet in the case was filed in August 2012, and the trial started in February 2013.

Ahead of the verdict, Chandrasekharan’s widow K.K. Rema said irrespective of the verdict, she would continue to fight to bring all the “real” culprits to book. Chandrasekharan’s mother expressed “relief” over the verdict.

The murder of T.P. Chandrasekharan had attracted more media attention than any recent political assassination in Kerala, and had been on top of media highlights for months together. Chandrasekharan had dared to openly criticise the CPM leadership in the state. He alsoestablished the Revolutionary Marxist Party.

Several statements by Opposition leader V.S. Achuthanandan, that indirectly criticised the CPM and his decision to call on Chandrasekharan’s widow, Rema had also embarrassed the party.

Weeks before the verdict, there was another controversy when some of the accused in the case were found to be freely using mobile phones and uploading Facebook posts from within jail.

That led to the transfer of jail director-general of police Alexander Jacob. A few weeks later, political developments ensured that the home minister, Thiruvanachoor Radhakrishnan also had to go, and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala took over as home minister.