The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the murder of a young radio jockey near here last week has identified the three hired killers involved, though the key accused has since fled abroad, an official said on Monday.

The official, requesting anonymity, said that the SIT had identified the key accused as Alibhai who had flown to a country in the Middle East even as two other suspects were holed up outside the state. The fourth person involved in the murder is yet to be identified.

Rajesh, a former radio jockey at an FM station, was hacked to death at his studio at Madavoor on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday after he had performed at a local show near his village.

Police said four men had arrived at the spot in a red car for the "planned murder". Police has even spoken on phone with a woman hailing from Kerala but now based in Qatar regarding the case.

Even as a group of persons who arranged for the vehicle for the killers have been questioned, no arrest has been made so far.

Rajesh started his career with a leading FM radio channel in Thiruvananthapuram. After a brief stint in the Middle East, he had been making programmes on his own.

The Congress-led opposition blamed the Kerala Police for erring in their duty and said the root cause of the deteriorating law and order situation in the state is due to the Pinarayi Vijayan government politicising the police force.