Political murders rock Kerala; ashamed, says Governor

Alappuzha: Kerala's coastal Alappuzha district was rocked by back-to-back killings of two party leaders, the first belonging to the SDPI and the second to the BJP, leading to clamping of prohibitory orders by police on Sunday.

Following the killing of an SDPI state secretary, a BJP leader was hacked to death subsequently in 12 hours and prohibitory order under CrPC Section 144 was imposed in the entire Alappuzha district on Sunday, district officials said.

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Sunday said that he feels ashamed of the back-to-back political killings in the state. He said that people of all political parties must refrain from killings and should believe in democracy.

Speaking to mediapersons here, Khan said that in a democratic country, violence does not have any role, and called upon people to believe in democracy.

He said that he was waiting for the report from the Home department regarding the killings.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan Sunday condemned the killings and said steps will be taken by the police to nab the culprits and those behind them.

The Chief Minister said such heinous and inhumane acts of violence were dangerous to the country and that people should keep away from such groups and their hateful activities.

K S Shan, the state secretary of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in Kerala, was brutally attacked on Saturday night while he was on his way back home and his party alleged the RSS was behind it. Shan succumbed to his injuries at a Kochi hospital around midnight, police said.

Hours later, BJP's OBC Morcha state secretary Ranjeet Sreenivas was hacked to death by some assailants who barged into his house on Sunday morning, police said.

Police said it suspects the fatal attack on Sreenivas, also a member of the BJP state committee, was in retaliation to the killing of Shan.

State Police Chief (SPC) Anil Kant, told the media, that senior police officers were camping in the district and additional forces have been deployed there.

He said that ADGP-Law and Order would be heading the probe into the two killings and that the police would soon be rounding up troublemakers, 'goondas' and their leaders in the area to prevent another such incident from happening in the near future.