He was sentenced to life imprisonment by a CBI Special Court forty years later, in the case relating to the encounter killing of Arikkad Varghese in the Thirunelly forest in Wayanad on 18 February 1970.
In November 1998, there was a revelation by CRPF Constable Ramachandran Nair before media that he had shot Varghese following orders from then DySP Lakshmana and DIG Vijayan.
[5] Following this revelation, the latter's brothers and former Naxal colleagues like Ayinoor Vasu approached the Kerala High Court for a CBI probe.
Thomas, one of the brothers had told the court that on the day of the incident, some policemen came to his house and informed the family that Arikkad Varghese had died in an encounter.
The chances of Arikkad Varghese who is a Naxalite leader, alone getting isolated in the forest without the company of any of his followers and getting himself engaged in an encounter with a team of armed CRPF men are remote, the court held.