Six persons were arrested on Saturday in the recent murder of BJP worker Santosh in Kannur. According to the Panur police, all the six -Rohil, Mithul, Prajul, Shamil, Rijesh and Ajesh- hail from Andallur in Kannur are CPI(M) workers.

As per reports, the accused were involved in political clashes with the BJP even earlier too.

52-year old Santhosh was hacked by assaulters who barged in to his house around 11 pm on Wednesday. Though the police and neighbours rushed him to hospital, he succumbed to his injuries on the way. He was alone at home at the time of the assault.

Santhosh's murder comes just three days after the death of the wife of a local BJP leader in Palakkad who succumbed to burn injuries sustained after their house was set ablaze two weeks ago by suspected CPI(M) workers.

The BJP Kannur unit had called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal in the district on Thursday following Santhosh’s death. In the last one year alone, six political murders were reported from Kannur.