Stephan Kayyar
Daijiworld Media Network - Kasargod (SP)
Kasargod, Feb 16: In a savage incident which occurred late night on Monday February 15 at Pappinisseri, Kannur district, a gang forced its way into the house of a BJP activist, and escaped after hacking him to death with sharp weapons.
The deceased has been identified as Sujith (27), a resident of Aaroli Azad Colony.
A gang with about ten members entered Sujith's home late night, and launched attack on Sujith. Parents and brother of Sujith, who tried to shield the victim, also suffered injuries.
Sujith, who suffered grave injuries in the incident, was taken to hospital, but died on the way. The police personnel said that preliminary investigation shows that some CPM activists had committed this crime. A murder backed by political enmity has happened in Kannur district after a wide gap.
After the news of the murder spread like wildfire, tension prevailed in the area. Police took precautionary measures to avert any flare up.
As per information, CPM leader, Kuttan, had led the attackers. In connection with the murder, eight people were taken into custody by police.
In the meantime, the house of CPM leader and former zilla panchayat member, Venugopal, was attacked on Tuesday morning. The police are taking every possible measure to see that such incidents do not recur.
BJP's Kannur District President Satyaprakash told reporters that CPI-M was allegedly behind the attack.
He alleged that CPI-M had decided to whip up violence to get over the embarrassment of the arrest of its party district secretary, P Jayarajan, an accused in the murder of a BJP functionary in 2014, after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected in the case.
BJP is observing 'hartal' in Kannur, Papinesseri and Azhikode areas to protest against the killing.
CPI-M State Secretary Kodieryi Balakrishnan said the attack was not political and was a purely local issue and had nothing to do with the CPI-M.
BJP state President Kummanam Rajasekharan, however, said the attack cannot be considered an 'isolated' incident.
"In Kannur, the attacks on BJP and RSS are a continuing affair. This is not an isolated incident," he said.
CPI-M MP, M B Rajesh, said, "this is not an incident of political violence and CPI-M has nothing to do with it."
"BJP and RSS have a long list of political violence. According to our information yesterday's incident is not at all political violence," he added.
The incident comes after a political calm in Kannur, which frequently witnesses violent clashes between CPI-M and BJP.
On December 1, 1999, K P Jayakrishnan Master, a BJP leader was hacked to death, allegedly by CPI-M workers, in front of his students while he was taking class.
With PTI Inputs