The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Murder of RSS activist: one more arrested

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Monday, Jun 15, 2009
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Murder of RSS activist: one more arrested

Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city police have arrested “Velli” Narayanan, a local functionary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in connection with the murder of Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) activist Renjith at Mannanthala on October 17 last.

The police case is that Renjith was murdered in retaliation for the killing of CPI(M) activist Vanchiyoor Vishnu the same year. Investigators said Narayanan, one of the main accused, had recruited four engineering college students along with others, including two gang leaders, for killing Renjith.

The students had earlier enlisted the help of Narayanan to interfere on their behalf on a campus tiff with their seniors in 2008.

Later, Narayanan, along with the other main suspects, recruited the students for helping them to kill Renjith in retaliation for the murder of their close friend and business partner Vishnu. Renjith was one among the RSS men arrested for Vishnu’s murder.

The police said the students met the main accused at the house of Narayanan on October 16, the previous day of the murder. The assailants set out from Narayanan’s house in two cars and motorbikes, some of them sourced by the students, at 4.30 a.m. the next day. The cars and motorbikes were fitted with fake registration plates. The assailants, among them “Ambalakmukku” Krishnankumar and “Karate” Suresh (who are yet to be arrested), carried machetes.

Renjith, who ran a milk booth, panicked on seeing the assailants and tried to contact somebody hurriedly on his mobile phone. He could never make that call. The police said Narayanan also took part in the killing.

Krishnakumar suffered a fracture in the violence and one of the students drove him to a private hospital in Tamil Nadu for treatment.

The student also gave the suspects his car to escape to Bangalore and later went there to collect it. The students attempted to destroy evidence in the vehicles. But forensic experts had found blood stains, hair follicles and other genetic evidences in one of the cars.

Investigators said the students had been associating with anti-social elements through Narayanan without the knowledge of their parents. One of them had left home on the night of October 16 on the pretext that he was going to a friend’s place for combined study.

The students had visited Narayanan, when he was in prison on the charge of attempting to kill RSS activist Mohanan.

The police had earlier arrested “Vanchiyoor” Hariprasad, “Chukkran” Renjith and “Motta” Aji, all low-ranking CPI(M) leaders, in connection with the murder. They were searching for alleged gang leader “Karate” Suresh on the charge of plotting the crime.

Assistant Commissioner, Cantonment, K.S. Gopakumar and his special crime squad made the arrest. The suspect was produced before a court and remanded in judicial custody.

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