Kerala: Two RSS workers arrested in connection with CPM activist's murder

Kannur: Two RSS workers were on Friday taken into custody in connection with the murder of a CPI-M local committee member in Kannur district on 10 October. Toddy shop worker Mohanan, 40, was hacked to death by a six-member gang. He was the CPI(M)’s Paduvilayi local committee member. Police said the the activist died on the way to the hospital. The attack took place in the morning when he was inside the shop. Another worker, Ashokan, was also injured, police said. Roopesh (23) and Rahul (22) were picked up from RSS office at Kannur, police said on Friday. [caption id=“attachment_3050996” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Getty images[/caption] Police had registered cases against seven persons in connection with the incident. Within 48 hours of the murder of the CPI(M) activist Mohanan BJP activist Remith was hacked to death in the home town of Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday. In retaliation, buses and autorickshaws were off the roads as the 12-hour state-wide hartal called by the BJP in Kerala to protest against the brutal killing of a 25-year-old party activist in Kannur on Thursday. This was the second hartal in Kannur district within 3 days as the CPI(M) had observed a hartal in protest against the murder of their worker. The Centre on Thursday sought a report from the Kerala government on the BJP worker’s death. The police have registered cases against 10 CPI(M) workers in connection with the attack on Remith. A special squad under DYSP (Administration) TP Renjith has been formed to investigate the case. CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury had said the violence in Kerala has been started by the RSS-BJP combine itself and blaming the state’s ruling party for the same is “total fabrication” of facts. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, while speaking at a function in Alappuzha, attacked RSS and BJP over the attack on a Marxist worker in Kannur three days ago and accused RSS of spreading violence in the state. With repeated instances of political violence between the BJP and the CPI-M in Left-ruled Kerala, Congress asked the two parties to stop “such politics” or else the state would turn into “devil’s own country” on Thursday.