4 min readThiruvananthapuramApr 17, 2022 04:05 AM IST
First published on: Apr 16, 2022 at 04:05 PM IST
A DAY after a local leader of the Popular Front of India (PFI) was hacked to death, an RSS worker was killed the same way in Palakkad district of Kerala on Saturday afternoon.
Police said S K Sreenivasan (45), an RSS worker and former office-bearer, was attacked by a five-member gang who stormed into his two-wheeler shop in Melamuri, a BJP stronghold in Palakkad.
Quoting eyewitnesses, police said the attackers parked their motorcycles outside Sreenivasan’s shop. Wielding swords, three of them stormed into the shop and hacked Sreenivasan several times, before escaping on their motorcycles. CCTV footage showed the suspected attackers reaching the street outside Sreenivasan’s shop on three motorcycles.
BJP leaders alleged that the PFI was behind the attack. The PFI did not react to the charges.
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On Friday afternoon, the PFI’s Elappully area president, A Subair (44), was hacked to death outside a mosque. According to police, Subair and his father were on a motorcycle when they were hit by a vehicle. As they fell on the road, some men emerged from another vehicle and attacked Subair before fleeing the spot.
The PFI had alleged that the RSS-BJP was behind the murder; the BJP district leadership had denied the allegation.
Police confirmed that a vehicle abandoned by Subair’s killers was registered in the name of RSS worker S Sanjith, who was killed last November, allegedly by members of PFI and its political outfit Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). Subair was also a member of the SDPI.
Sanjith’s family said the vehicle was parked in a workshop before his death, and they had not got it since then.
Another vehicle which is suspected to have been used by Subair’s attackers was found abandoned. Police have found that it was “rented” to a person named Rameshan, who is absconding since the incident.
The FIR calls Subair’s death a “political murder”. Four RSS-BJP workers who were allegedly involved in an attack on a PFI worker last year are being questioned.
“The conspiracy behind the murder is clear. By killing a local PFI leader, RSS wants to foment communal trouble,” state PFI president C P Muhammed Basheer had said on Friday.
Meanwhile, BJP’s state general secretary and senior party leader in Palakkad, C Krishna Kumar, alleged that the PFI was behind the attack on Saturday. “Police could not prevent the killing of the RSS worker when armed criminal gangs were roaming in the city. Yesterday, we already denied the role of our workers or any Sangh Parivar men in the killing of the PFI worker,” he said.
“Police neglected the PFI plan to trigger violence across the district. Melamuri region in Palakkad had reported communal violence in the past, but the police did not take any precautionary steps. The ruling CPI(M) and its police force have surrendered before terrorists,” state BJP president K Surendran said. Opposition Leader in Assembly V D Satheesan said the killings were a fallout of the state government’s communal appeasement. “The CPI(M) is appeasing both the SDPI and RSS, which they call social engineering,” he said.
Police have sounded an alert to prevent further violence. About 300 police personnel have been deployed in Palakkad, where Additional District Magistrate K Manikandan has issued prohibitory orders till April 20 “sensing that religious hatred may emerge in the wake of the two killings.” State DGP Anil Kanth warned that strict action would be taken against those who spread religious hatred through social media.
The five-member gang had arrived on two-wheelers, wielding swords, and hacked Sreenivasan several times, the police stated, quoting eyewitnesses. (Photo: Twitter/@ckkbjp) 
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