Thiruvananthapuram, August 18 (BPNS)
The police on Wednesday arrested four persons in connection with the murder of a CPI(M) local committee member in Palakkad last Sunday. According to police, personal rivalry along with local political disputes resulted in the murder of K Shajahan.
The 40-year-old was hacked to death on the eve of Independence Day which resulted in a war of words between CPI(M) and BJP/RSS. Both the parties had alleged that it was a political killing.
While CPI(M) blamed the BJP/RSS for the murder, the latter alleged that it was infight within the CPI(M) local committee that resulted in the gruesome act. The political affiliation of the accused persons is also being used as a political weapon by the respective parties.
However, Palakkad district police chief R Viswanadh said that the police are examining the political background of the arrestees. He also added that those arrested were directly involved in the murder and had a personal rivalry as well as local political disputes with Shajahan.
The arrested ones were Naveen, Sabareesh, Sujeesh and Aneesh.
According to the SP, the arrestees developed a grudge toward Shajahan from 2019, when he was appointed as party branch secretary. It developed further as Shajahan questioned one of them for tying rakhi and questioned them for placing a flex board in connection with Sree Krishna Jayanthi.
The police who conducted the evidence collection with the arrestees are said to have found the weapons used to hack Shajahan. They were sent for forensic examination. The police had majorly concentrated the evidence collection at Kozhimala and Kalepully.
Earlier, local sources had said that Shajahan’s appointment as branch secretary had not gone down well with some and they kept a distance from party activities thereon. It is also said that some then joined BJP/RSS.
But BJP leadership denied the same by pointing out that the accused ones’ social media accounts tell another story as they share pictures with left leaders and had shared CPI(M) posts.
Countering this, CPI(M) central committee member AK Balan said on the other day that the miscreants who are BJP/RSS supporters used social media to mislead the public that they are left supporters.
The case is being probed by a special investigation team headed by the Palakkad DySP.
The victim Shajahan was one of the accused in the murder of BJP activist Aruchami in 2008 and is also said to have undergone a jail term.
