2 killings in 2 days: RSS worker hacked to death in Palakkad

Back-to-back killings of RSS and Popular Front workers in the last 24 hours have marred Keralites’ week otherwise marked by merriment and festivities of Vishu and Easter.

Popular Front leader Zuber, riding a bike along with his father after praying at a mosque on Friday, was killed as a gang that followed them knocked the bike down and attacked him with swords and other lethal weapons in Palakkad.

The attackers had come in two cars, one of which allegedly belonged to an RSS leader named Sanjith, who had earlier been killed in a similar attack.

In a reciprocal killing, RSS activist Sreenivasan was attacked and killed in his shop by a gang who came on two bikes on Saturday afternoon. Although he was rushed to the hospital, his life could not be saved as the wounds on his head, hands and legs proved fatal.

A state-wide alert was sounded as police fear more incidents and violence. The DGP convened an emergency meet and decided to beef up security in all the districts as part of the move.

The ADGP in charge of law and order situation is camping in Palakkad and supervising the arrangements. More police personnel have been deployed in sensitive areas. Police has been advised to make preventive arrests so as to limit the possibility of further retaliatory strikes. In the last six months, at least four retaliatory killings have taken place in the state. Two lives were lost in Alappuzha in similar circumstances earlier, which led to state-wide alert and further killings were prevented.

State BJP chief K Surendran alleged the law and order in Kerala has collapsed and attributed the killings to the police failure. He said the situation demands intervention by the Centre, giving a veiled threat to CM Pinarayi Vijayan, who heads the home ministry.

CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said BJP had no right to complain as they were a party to the violence. Both RSS and PFI are out to create communal divide through their activities, he asserted and said his party would strive to establish peace.

Union Minister V Muraleedharan said the situation was pathetic.