A dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) at Payyoli on Friday in protest against the arrest of party leaders in connection with the murder of Choriyanchalil Manoj, a RSS activist, was total in the region including Payyoli municipality, Thikkodi, Mudadi and Thuravoor grama panchayats.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had on Thursday arrested nine persons including T. Chandu, district committee member; P.V. Ramachandran, Payyoli local committee secretary; T. Suresh, Payyoli area committee member; N.C. Mustafa, Payyoli local committee member; and K.T. Likesh, local committee member and councillor of Payyoli municipality.
Shops and business remained closed till 6 p.m. In the evening, CPI(M) activists also took out a protest march in Payyoli town. However, buses were exempted from the hartal. A large posse of policemen was deployed in the area after the flagpost of the CPI(M) was removed from Payyoli bus stand on Thursday night. The incident occurred after BJP activists took out a procession hailing the arrest. The Payyoli police have registered a case against the BJP workers.
The CPI (M) district leadership, which expressed shock over the arrest, alleged that the CBI had foisted false charges on its local leaders and that the arrest was part of a political conspiracy.
The arrests have come at a time when the party is gearing up for the district conference at Koyilandy next week. The CBI had already registered an FIR before the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court. Manoj, 40, was hacked to death by a masked gang, allegedly workers of the CPI(M), in front of his wife and children at their home at Payyoli on February 12. He succumbed to his injuries at the Government Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode, the next day.
Meanwhile, BJP State general secretary K. Surendran demanded that the CBI examine the role of the CPI(M) leadership in the murder. “CPI(M) leaders had earlier tried to make ordinary workers scapegoats in the case. However, the accused named in the chargesheet by the local police had themselves come out against the leaders,” Mr. Surendran said at a news conference on Friday.
