Kerala fire officer held in connection with RSS worker’s murder

Police sources said the arrested fire officer had close links with the PFI and was suspected to have helped the group that hacked Sreenivas to death at Melamuri in Palakkad. As many as 21 PFI activists have been arrested for the murder.

Police had told a local court that the RSS leader’s murder was planned hours after the PFI leader Subair was hacked to death.

Police had also arrested nine RSS-BJP workers in connection with Subair’s murder, who allegedly was targeted in retaliation to the murder of a local RSS leader, A Sanjith, in Palakkad in November last year.

Last month, the state Fire and Rescue Services Department had given training to PFI cadres in rescue operations during natural disasters, at Aluva in Ernakulam. After a row erupted over the training, two officers were suspended and three others were transferred.

Earlier this year, a police constable named P K Anas, who had worked at a police station in Idukki district, was removed from service on charges of leaking out sensitive data about RSS-BJP leaders to PFI workers. Anas’ links with extremist elements came to the fore accidently when Idukki police were probing into an alleged Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) attack on a bus conductor.

The BJP has been alleging that extremist elements have sneaked into government services, particularly in state’s police force.