Suspect in murder of Youth Congress leader held
Haneefa was former president of Youth Congress in Puthenkadappuram block in Chavakkad
THRISSUR: The police arrested Shameer, the prime suspect in the murder of Youth Congress leader Chavakkad Thiruvathra Haneefa, on Saturday.
Shameer, a leader of the ‘I’ faction of the Congress and neighbour of Haneefa, is an accused in several criminal cases. Police suspect that other members of the killer squad have left for their hideouts.
Clashes broke out when the activists belonging to the ‘A’ faction held a protest march to the Chavakkkad police station along with the body of Haneefa on Saturday. A tense situation prevails in the area and the police have tightened the security.
According to police sources, a five-member gang led by Shameer hacked to death Haneefa in front of his mother and other family members on Friday night as a sequel to the ongoing conflict between the ‘A’ and I factions of the Congress.
The assailants stormed the house of the deceased around 10 in the night and attacked him with sharp weapons. Haneefa was former president of Youth Congress in Puthenkadappuram block in Chavakkad.
Police suspect that the attack was in retaliation for the clashes between the factions in the region six months ago.
KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran told reporters in Kochi that a committee headed by PCC general secretary P.M. Suresh Babu had been constituted to probe into the allegation of the killing as a fall-out of the group rivalry. He called for an impartial probe into the incident and prompt action against the assailants.
Congress MLA K. Muraleedharan said that the politics of murder was against the culture of Congress. The killing of Haneefa is the third political murder in the region during the past two years.