A day after a 22-year-old Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) worker Mansur was killed in a post-poll violence in Kannur, his kin have spoken to the media. “We believe it was a planned attack. We saw about 25 people near the house. When they heard noises here, some of them left,” Mansur’s father Mustafa told local media.
Mansur and his brother Muhsin, a UDF polling agent, were attacked late on April 6 in Kannur’s Panoor area, after elections came to a close in Kerala. The 22-year-old was taken to hospitals in Vadakara and Thalassery and then to a private hospital in Kozhikode where he passed away. So far a A CPI(M) worker has been arrested in the case.
The young League worker had only returned to Kannur in February. He was employed at a shop in Bengaluru, while his brother Muhsin was working at a restaurant in Kayamkulam. "Mansur had told us that he would be going back after elections," Mustafa added.
On the day of the attack, Muhsin had stepped out of his house to go to his wife's house, and Mansur too had stepped out of his house at the same time. It was then that a big group of people approached the brothers, identified Muhsin by his name and attacked him, the family says.
"When they reached Mukkilpeedika, a gang of 8-10 people had dragged Muhsin away and that is when Mansur intervened. Hearing their shouts, many women had rushed to see what was happening. We were told that after this, another group came and hurled bombs at them," a relative of Mansur's told local media.
Mustafa also added that this was the first time that their area was seeing political murders and violence.
“We have workers from different political parties living here but we were all residing in harmony. I cannot tell what really triggered this. Apart from the usual arguments during elections, there was never any violence in this part of town,” Mustafa says. Explaining why he believed Mansur’s death was a planned attack, he said, “there were some people who told us that they had read some discussions on social media prior to the attack.”
Another relative of Mansur’s also added that there had been no trigger for such a violent attack to take place. “It is only natural to have small arguments during elections. But nobody knew it would lead to this,” he said
The primary autopsy report of the 22-year-old also confirmed that he was not hacked, but was attacked with bombs. The report also says that Mansur’s left leg was completely destroyed by the bomb hurled at him. This was also cited as the reason for his death.
The autopsy which began at 2:30 pm on Wednesday ended at 4 pm. It was done in the presence of prominent forensic surgeons.
The police are yet to confirm if Mansur was also hacked using sharp objects.
Speaking to the media, District Police Chief, Kannur City, R Elango confirmed that 11 accused had been identified in the case. Following his death, the police took into custody Shinos, a CPI(M) worker who is Mansur and Muhsin’s neighbour.
"We believe that the murder was politically motivated. Right now we have one person in custody whom we are questioning. We also think there might be more than 11 people involved in the killing. But we need to find out each of their identities and roles in the murder," R Elango told local media.