THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The back to back brutal murders of BJP and SDPI state leaders within a span of less than 12 hours, rocked Alappuzha district of Kerala.
SDPI state secretary K S Shan,38, was brutally hacked to death by a gang on Saturday evening. Within hours people woke up to another brutal murder on Sunday morning. A 12 member gang on motorbikes came to BJP (OBC Morcha) state secretary Ranjith Sreenivasan’s house in the heart of Alappuzha town and hacked him to death in front of his mother and wife.
The police suspect that 40 year old Ranjith's murder was to avenge Shan's killing.
The two murders have shocked the entire state with the police clamping prohibitory orders in Alappuzha district (section 144) for two days and sounding a high alert in all districts.
State Police Chief Mr Anil Kant held a high level meeting of top police officials to take stock of the situation. “We have directed our officers to conduct a thorough investigation and nab the persons involved in the murder. Patrolling has been intensified, additional police force has been deployed in sensitive areas to prevent retaliatory attacks by rival groups. ADGP , IG and DIG level officers are camping in Alappuzha to monitor the situation closely,” he said.
IG Harshita Attaluri said more than 50 people belonging to th SDPI- BJP and RSS have been rounded in connection with the twin murders .
The first murder that shook the district took place last night in Mannancherry, Alappuzha. The bike on which Shan was traveling was knocked down by a car from behind. Soon a five member gang hacked him with sharp edged weapons.
Locals rushed Shan to a private hospital in Alappuzha and later he was shifted to a multi speciality hospital in Kochi. Though a emergency surgery was performed, he succumbed to his injuries at 11.30pm.
The police suspects that a five-member gang was behind the murder of SDPI leader in Mannanchery. The police has collected CCTV footage from the cameras in the vicinity.
SDPI alleged that the RSS workers were behind the murder of their leader.
Two BJP activists have been reportedly arrested in connection with the murder of Shan.
Eleven SDPI activists are in custody in connection with the murder of BJP leader Ranjit Srinivasan. Four SDPI activists were apprehended from an ambulance.
However, the police have not released any further details about any of them.
Meanwhile, the police said the murders were planned and excuted by the rival groups. Police has received CCTV footage of 12 people on six bikes moving towards Ranjith's house. Soon they are seen returning after the attack
Ranjith was hacked when he was getting ready for the morning walk.
The people of Mannancherry and Alappuzha are in a state of shock. The area had not witnessed any political violence after RSS activist Nandu’s murder allegedly by SDPI activists in February last.
Police sources said Shan’s murder could be retaliatory attack to avenge the killing of Nandu. There are reports that RSS had earlier targetted Shan.
Meanwhile, police has intensified patrolling in sensitive areas including Kannur district which is hotbed of political killings. Despite prohibitory orders both BJP-RSS and SDPI took out separte protest matches in various districts to protest against the killings .
