The Kerala Police have identified three suspected killers of Anand (23), the RSS worker who was brutally hacked to death on Sunday at Nenmini near temple town Guruvayur in Kerala’s Thrissur district and intensified the search for them even as RSS-BJP leaders alleged that Thrissur was fast becoming a second Kannur as far CPI(M) violence against Sangh Pariwar workers were concerned.
Police, who have identified Anand’s killers as Manu, Fahis and Jithesh, have issued lookout circular to all police stations and have alerted the authorities at airports in order to block the suspects from fleeing the country. The slain youth’s funeral was held at the Santhivanam crematorium at Cheruthuruthy, some 35 kilometers north of Nenmini on Monday evening.
RSS activist Anand, second accused in the case pertaining to the murder of young CPI(M) worker Fasil in November, 2013, was hacked to death by a gang of killers at Nenmini at around 1.30 PM Sunday. The killers, who had followed Anand who was riding a motorbike in a car, attacked him after hitting the bike with the car.
Fahis is said to be the brother of Fasil, and Jithesh and Manu are his friends. According to the police, Anand was murdered as an act of revenge for the killing of Fasil. The police are also trying to track down the suspects with the help of the Cyber Cell. Though their mobile phones were in switched-off state, the police have been able to collect their call details.
As tension prevailed on Monday in and around Nenmini where Anand was murdered on, the Thrissur District Collector placed areas coming under the Guruvayur, Guruvayur Temple and Pavaratty police station limits under prohibitory orders for two days in order to avert
any possible incidents of conflict.
The BJP on Monday observed a dawn-to-dusk shutdown in Guruvayur and Manalur Assembly constituencies to protest against the killing of the RSS activist. Reports from the two constituencies said the hartal was peaceful and evoked total response as shops and commercial establishments remained closed. No untoward incident had been reported.
However, RSS-BJP leaders alleged that Anand was deliberately trapped in the Fasil murder case as an accused merely because he was a key witness in the case pertaining to the murder of an RSS Karyavah in Pavaratty a few years ago allegedly by activists of the CPI(M) and Islamist outfit Popular Front of India.
Meanwhile, RSS and BJP leaders expressed the apprehension that Thrissur district, home to some of the most famous temples in Kerala like the lord Krishna shrine of Guruvayur, was fast becoming a second Kannur as far as the spread and intensity of the Marxists’ politics of murderous violence were concerned.
“What is even more alarming is that incidents of violence sponsored by the Marxists have become frequent in areas like Guruvayur which used to be known for their spiritual importance and peaceful atmosphere. Also, there is enough reason to believe that the Popular Front is conniving with the Marxists in perpetrating violence,” said a Guruvayur-based senior BJP leader.
Sangh Pariwar functionaries said a minimum of 50 BJP-RSS workers had been killed by the Marxists and religious fundamentalists in the district so far.
At least a dozen RSS-BJP workers had been killed in Manalur alone, they said, adding that Anand was the third victim of Marxist violence in Thrissur since the left won majority in the Assembly election 18 months ago.
“There are people who act as CPI(M) workers during daytime and work for NDF at night,” according to an RSS leader. “The CPI(M) is attacking the RSS and BJP here with NDF help. This relationship may soon become a burden for the CPI(M) itself as the NDF could turn against them anytime,” according to State BJP secretary B Gopalakrishnan.