ALAPPUZHA: Political murders appeared to have reared their ugly head again in Kerala as two state leaders belonging to SDPI and BJP were murdered by unidentified assailants within a span of 12 hours in Alappuzha.
K S Shan, 38, SDPI state secretary, was knocked down from his bike by a car in Mannanchery around 7.30 pm on Saturday after which a four-member gang repeatedly stabbed him. Shan, who was rushed to hospital, succumbed to his injuries around midnight.
Adv Ranjith Sreenivasan, 44, BJP OBC Morcha state secretary, was murdered in Alappuzha town at around 6.30 am on Sunday after around 12 armed men barged into his house and hacked him to death in front of his wife, mother and younger daughter. Both murders happened barely a dozen kms apart, prompting speculation on intelligence failure and lack of adequate precautionary measures on the part of the police.
The district collector has issued prohibitory orders under Section 144 in Alappuzha on Sunday and Monday considering the possibility of further violence. Condemning the killings, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, “Such heinous and inhumane acts of violence are dangerous to the state. I am sure that all the people would be ready to identify and isolate such killer groups and their hateful attitudes". The police have been asked to nab all people behind the murders, he added.
IG (South Zone) Harshitha Attaluri, who is in charge of the investigation, said police have taken around 50 people, including anti-social elements, general public as well as workers of BJP-RSS and SDPI, into custody. Denying charges of police failure, especially after the first murder, she said: "We cannot give protection to every house." It is learnt that Mannanachery police have taken 11 persons into custody for Shan's murder and Alappuzha South Police 15 persons for Ranjith's killing. An ambulance belonging to SDPI has also been seized and three persons travelling in it have been detained.
BJP state president K Surendran said Ranjith's murder was planned and executed by Popular Front of India (PFI). He told reporters in Kozhikode that support from CPM and police had emboldened the outfit to commit crimes. He also said RSS or BJP had no role in Shan's murder.
SDPI state general secretary P K Usman said there was no political tension prevailing in Mannanchery that could have led to such an attack and alleged that there was a serious conspiracy behind the incident. Shan had done exemplary work for the party in Mannanchery and this could have upset organizations like the BJP, he said.
The attack on Shan happened around 7.30pm on Saturday at Kuppezham junction along Mannanchery-Ponnad road. The SDPI leader was returning home on his two-wheeler when he was knocked down by a car and stabbed repeatedly by a four-member gang travelling in it. The gang members escaped from the scene in the same car. Shan, who was seriously injured in his arms, legs, abdomen and head, was first rushed to a private hospital in Alappuzha and then shifted to a private hospital in Ernakulam for an emergency surgery. He, however, succumbed to injuries by around 11.30pm. The visuals of the attack have been recovered from a CCTV camera installed in a house in the area.
BJP leader Ranjith was murdered around 6.30am on Sunday, when a group of men barged into his house. The front door of the house was left open by his elder daughter who went out for tuition classes. He was rushed to Alappuzha general hospital but could not be saved. Police have recovered CCTV visuals of 12 persons walking through a bylane and escaping in six bikes after the crime. The autopsy will be conducted at Alappuzha government medical college hospital only on Monday morning as the Covid test result came late on Sunday.
Ranjith’s wife Lisha is a lawyer practising in Alappuzha. Bhagya and Hridya, students of class IX and VII respectively, are his daughters. Fansila is Shan’s wife while Hiba Fathima (class VI) and Liya Fathima (UKG) are his daughters. His body was brought to Mannanchery in a procession from Ernakulam on Sunday evening and the funeral was held at Ponnadu Muslim Jamaath burial ground.
