Kasaragod (Kerala), May 14 (IANS): Two leaders of the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) from the Kasaragod district, arrested on Tuesday on charges of murdering two Youth Congress workers, were granted bail by a court near here.

After their arrest by the Crime Branch, they were produced before the Hosdurg magistrate court which gave them conditional bail. They were asked to furnish a bond of Rs 25,000, two personal sureties and were directed to present themselves before the probe officials as and when required.

The charges against the two, Manikandan and Balakrishnan, are that of helping the main accused in the case escape.

Krupesh, 19, and Joshy, 24, Youth Congress members, were attacked on February 17 by three men. While Krupesh died at the Kasaragod district hospital, Joshy succumbed to injuries on way to a medical facility in Mangaluru city of Karnataka.

They were arrested after their detailed questioning by the Crime Branch team, a police spokesperson said.

With this, the total arrests in the case have gone up to 13. One person on the police radar had fled the country, officials said.

The Congress and its Kasaragod Lok Sabha candidate Rajmohan Unnithan have made the killings a major election issue and are expecting to pull off a surprise win in a seat that has been held by the CPI-M for long.

Reacting to arrests, state Congress chief Mullapally Ramachandran said he was not happy with the probe and the state police should investigate the case thoroughly in order to unmask the real culprits.

State CPI-M Secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan has in the past dismissed the need for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the crime.