Kannur: A 52-year-old member of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) party was hacked to death on Monday by six unidentified masked men in Kerala's Kannur.
According to reports, CPM's branch secretary Kuzhichal Mohanan was murdered at his shop in a busy market area in Valankichal near Anjarakkandy.
A group of heavily armed RSS workers entered the toddy shop where 52-year-old Mohanan was working and hacked him to death. There were around 30-40 sharp wounds inflicted on his body, the party claimed in its official statement.
Another CPM member, who was with Mohanan, was injured in the attack that took place around 10:30 am. Mohanan’s body will be cremated on Tuesday.
The CPM condemned the 'brutal murder' of Mohanan and accused the BJP and RSS for his murder. It has called for a strike of Tuesday. The CPI (M) also claimed that the BJP, which failed to win the state assembly elections, is resorting to such violent attacks as an act of revenge.
"The Polit Bureau calls upon the law enforcement agencies to ensure that they speedily arrest the culprits responsible for this heinous crime and get them punished. This heinous murder took place even as a motley group of BJP workers marched to the CPI(M) headquarters in Delhi, purportedly to protest the attacks on RSS workers in Kerala," the statement read.
"The RSS/BJP has always used the goebbelsian tactics of repeating a lie a hundred times and peddling it as the truth. While it clear that is the RSS which is mounting large-scale attacks against the CPI(M) all over Kerala, it is fallaciously seeking to portray itself as the victim. This bluff shall be called," it added.
Meanwhile the Kerala police have said that they suspect the murder was politically motivated.
There have been several attacks on political workers and activists since the LDF government came to power in May this year. According to an official statistics, more than 50 political attacks have taken place and at least four political workers were murdered since.
Last month, BJP spokesperson Meenakshi Lekhi had claimed that about 400 cases of violence have been registered in four months after the LDF government came to power. At least 200 BJP workers have been assaulted, maimed or killed, and 200 homes burnt, she had said.
The BJP had last month slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for "increasing" number of political attacks in Kannur district and sought a probe by CBI or Supreme Court or High Court judge on the "red terror" unleashed against its workers.
