In a fresh incident of political violence in Kerala’s Kannur district, suspected Marxist killers on Monday night hacked a BJP-RSS activist to death in front of his parents at Pappinissery. Police have taken eight CPI(M) workers into custody in connection with the incident.
Sujith (27), son of Janardanan of Parakkottu Valappil, Azad Colony at Aroli, Pappinissery, was hacked to death by a ten-member Marxist killer gang, which barged into his house at about 11.30 pm on Monday. The seriously injured BJP activist was taken to
hospital after the attack but he succumbed to the injuries on the way. Sujith was a former RSS area Karyavah at Pappinissery.
The victim’s father, Janardanan, mother Sulochana and elder brother Jayakrishnan also suffered injuries in the attack when they intervened to prevent the killers from hacking him. Sulochana suffered fracture in her right arm. The gang which carried out the brutal attack was allegedly led by a CPI(M) activist, Jayesh alias Kuttan of Aroli.
After the incident, the house of a local CPI(M) leader, Venugopal, a member of the Kallyassery Block Panchayat, came under attack. According to one version, the attack on Sujith was a sequel to the recent incident of the manhandling of a CPI(M) activist, Fayaz. The murder has sparked concern among the people of Kannur about the possibility of continued violence.
“It is a CPI(M) act. This proves that the detention of P Jayarajan (district CPI(M) secretary) has not affected the capacity of the Marxists to unleash violence,” said a BJP leader. Jayarajan, described as the mastermind of several violent incidents in Kannur, had surrendered before a court last week in the case pertaining to the killing of RSS leader Manoj in Kathiroor in 2014.
The BJP on Tuesday observed a dawn-to-dusk shutdown in Kannur and Azhicode Assembly constituency areas and in Kannapuram, Pappinissery and Kallyassery panchayats to protest the murder. Hundreds of additional police personnel, drawn from various police stations in the district, were deployed in the Aroli, Pappinissery and Valapattanam areas.
“This was not an incident of political violence. Our party has nothing do with it,” claimed State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, himself a native of Kannur district. “This was related to an incident of eve-teasing,” he said. MV Jayarajan, holding the charge of party district secretary temporarily in the absence of P Jayarajan, also made claims on these lines.
The murder has triggered fears among the residents of Kannur, known as Kerala’s political killing fields due to its long history of murderous violence, about the possibility of future violence in Kannur especially as the Assembly election is nearing. Kannur used to witness surge in violence during the run-up to elections, they point out.