Naripetta murder lands CPM in fix

Kozhikode: The CPM, already in the dock over the murder of RMP leader T.P. Chandrasekharan,  has again courted trouble with yet another alleged political killing here.

Vellalippil Anup, 29, Hindu Aikya Vedi activist, who was  admitted to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital on Monday with serious injuries due to alleged stone-throwing by CPM activists,  died on Friday triggering strong reactions from the BJP and the RMP. 

Anup was among the Aikya Vedi activists who staged a  sit-in at Kaiveliyial, near Naripetta,  demanding the implementation of the Madhav Gadgil committee report for the preservation of the Western Ghats when the incident happened.       

Although the district leadership of the CPM  denied any involvement in the incident, the BJP and the Hindutva outfits are portraying the death as a handiwork of CPM activists and the quarry mafia.

BJP leader K. Surendran  alleged that CPM activists on the payroll of the quarry mafia were  behind the attack. K.T. Kunhikannan, director of CPM-sponsored Keluettan Padhana Kendram here, however, said the RSS was trying to incite violence in the name of Gadgil report.         

The  RMP said in a statement that the unholy alliance between the CPM and the quarry mafia had been  exposed with the killing of Anup.  The incident also showed  that the CPM was not yet ready to  eschew the politics of murder.  

The body of Anup was kept at the Town Hall here for the public to pay their last respects before being taken to his native place. A slew of green activists, including Prof. A. Achuthan and  Prof. Shobheendran,  were among those who paid tributes to Anup.