Seven Dalit Human Rights Movement (DHRM) activists have been found guilty of murder of Sivaprasad, a man who went for a morning walk near Varkala in Thiruvananthapuram in September 2009 and never came back.

Thiruvananthapuram Additional Sessions court judge A Badharudheen will pronounce the sentence on Thursday.

Along with Sivaprasad, a tea-seller Ashokan was also attacked by the gang but he survived.

DHRM state chairman Selvaraj, south zone organizer Das, Jayachandran, Madhu, Sudhi, Sunil and Sudhi are the convicted activists.

Though 13 accused faced the trial, six of them were acquitted due to lack of evidence.  

The prosecution has argued that the DHRM activists attacked the tea-seller to show their organisational strength, and that their idea was to slay non-dalits they come across.

The Times of India reports that there were only a few people on the road since it was raining that morning and besides attacking Sivaprasad and Ashokan, they had chased a retired soldier, Anil Kumar.

163 documents, 76 material objects and 76 witnesses were examined in the trial by the prosecution.

Six witnesses, including a sub judge had turned hostile.

The trial commenced on June 20, 2015 and concluded on March 26, 2016.