Ernakulam, Dec 4 (IANS): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday filed chargesheet in a case related to the murder of two Youth Congress workers in 2019 in Kerala.

The chargesheet was filed before the Chief Judicial Magistrate against 24 persons, named as accused, in the alleged murder of Kripesh and Sarat Lal by CPI-M activists at Periya village in Kerala's Kasaragod district.

The CBI had arrested five accused on December 1 and presently they are in judicial custody. In addition, 11 accused earlier arrested by the state police are also in judicial custody, a statement issued by the CBI on Friday stated.

The agency had registered the case on October 23, 2019 against 14 accused, following the Kerala High Court's order on September 30, 2019.

It has examined more than 300 witness and collected several documents during the course of investigation in the case.

After 'thorough' investigation, CBI filed chargesheet against the accused on Friday.

The case was originally registered at Bekal police station on February 17, 2019. Subsequently, the case was transferred to the Crime Branch of the state police and re-registered on February 21,2019. After investigation, the Crime Branch had filed the final chargesheet against 14 accused on May 20, the same year.

Unhappy with the investigation and charge sheet filed in the case by the state police, the victims' parents approached the High Court of Kerala and sought CBI investigation.

Later the High Court set aside the chargesheet filed by the police and transferred the case to the CBI for further investigation. Accordingly, CBI re-registered the case on October 23, 2019.

The Kerala government appealed against the order and even approached the Supreme Court, however its objections were overruled and CBI was ordered to continue the investigation, exactly a year ago.