An RSS worker was hacked to death in Kerala's Kannur on Friday. Choorakkadu Biju, a 35-year-old, was murdered in cold blood near Payyanur in Kannur, allegedly by political rivals.
The incident happened around 3pm on Friday, when Biju was attacked by a group of people who came in a car while he was traveling by bike. Biju was reportedly alone when he was attacked near a bridge at Palamkode. He died on the spot. The police have shifted the body to Co-operative Medical College.
“As of now we have no clue about who is behind the attack. But we believe that his political rivals may have murdered him,” Payyannur police said. Biju is the Mandal Karyakartha of RSS Kakkampara.
The BJP meanwhile has alleged that the CPI (M) has conspired and executed the murder. The BJP has called for a hartal in Kannu district on Saturday.
According to reports, the police have tightened security in the area to prevent clashes between the workers of the two political parties.
On July 11, 2016, CV Dhanaraj was hacked to death in the courtyard of his house near Payyannur town. The assailants had come on motorbikes with swords in hand, and hacked Dhanaraj in front of his family members. Dhanaraj had died on the way to hospital. The murder had resulted in a wave of violence in northern Kerala.
Within hours of Dhanaraj's murder, a leader of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, CK Ramachandran was murdered in Payyannur. The attackers had hurled country-made bombs at Ramachandran's house at midnight and later stabbed him to death.
Over the next few days, establishments of CPI(M) and the RSS, the BJP and their affiliates were targeted. Hartals were also observed in Kannur by both sides.
C Biju, along with KM Biju, who was the 8th accused in the Dhanaraj murder case, had surrendered to the police in March 2017. The police had registered a case against around 20 BJP and RSS workers in the murder, and 15 people had been arrested in 2016. Twenty two CPI(M) members were accused in the case, and 8 workers were arrested in 2016 for the murder of Ramachandran.
In February 2017, in a first gesture of its kind, CPI(M) leaders visited the house of Santosh, another BJP worker, who was stabbed to death, allegedly by CPI(M) workers.