An RSS functionary at Muzhakkunnu in Kerala’s politically volatile Kannur district on Thursday suffered serious hack injuries in a brutal attack carried out allegedly by a CPI(M) gang. Three other RSS workers too suffered injuries in the attack.
Sugesh (33), the Mandalam Karyavahak of the RSS in Kadukkapalam, was admitted to Indira Gandhi Cooperative Hospital in Thalassery, Kannur, with hack injuries in legs, neck and abdomen. Doctors said his condition was serious and might have to be shifted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode.
Three other RSS workers — Santhosh, Arun and Deepesh — too suffered injuries in the attack that took place at an under-construction house at Kadukkappalam near Muzhakkunnu on Thursday at 1.30 pm. They said a 30-member gang of armed Marxists barged into the house and hacked Sugesh after creating a terror situation by exploding country-made bombs and attacked them with iron rods.
Officials from the Iritti and Pervavoor police stations inspected the spot and launched a search for the perpetrators of the violence. Tension had been prevailing in the Muzhakkunnu area for the past several days, reports said. The house of the Mattannur Mandalam Karyavahak of the RSS had come under attack on Thursday morning.
Several parts of Kannur district had witnessed tension during the Sri Krishna Jayanti celebrations on Wednesday for which the RSS-BJP and the CPI(M) had taken out
processions.
Thursday’s attack on Sugesh and others was the first major incident of political violence in Kannur since the killing of local BMS leader CK Ramachandran (48) and CPI(M) activist CV Dhanaraj (38) in Payyannur last month.