The Kannur police in Kerala have arrested three RSS workers for a politically motivated murder which took place on Tuesday. Salahuddin, a member of SDPI (political wing of the Popular Front of India) was hacked to death by a group of men in Kannavam, Kannur on Tuesday afternoon.

On Wednesday, three RSS (Ideological arm of the BJP) men were arrested by the police. The accused men have been identified as Amal Raj (22), Pribin (23) and Aashiq Lal (25). The have been booked under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code which deals with murder.

“We have arrested these three and found them to be workers of the RSS. There are five more accused in the case and are on the lookout for them,” Circle Inspector of the Kannavam station told TNM.

Around 3:30 pm on Tuesday afternoon, Salahuddin was run over by a vehicle and hacked to death by a group. The murder took place a kilometre away from his house in Kannavam.

According to reports, Salahuddin sustained deep injuries on his neck and died before he reached the hospital. He was first taken to the Thalassery Cooperative Hospital following which his body was taken to the Thalassery General Hospital for autopsy.

Salahuddin was reportedly one of the accused in the murder Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) member Shyam Prasad in 2018. Shyam was hacked to death by a gang with machetes in Kannur while he was travelling back home in a motorcycle. ABVP later blamed the Popular Front of India or PFI for the murder.

This is not the first political murder to be reported in Kerala in recent months.

On August 31, two DYFI (youth wing of CPI(M)) were hacked to death within the Venjaramoodu station limits in Thiruvananthapuram. The deceased were identified as Midhilaj (30) and Haq Mohammad (24), residents of Vembayam and Thembamood respectively.