The National Investigation Agency (NIA) should inquire into the murder of Akhil Bharathiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activist Sachin Gopal, Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP) district president K. Ranjith has said.
Speaking to reporters here on Friday, he said the police were soft-pedalling the murder case unlike the investigations into the murder of Revolutionary Marxist Party leader T.P. Chandrashekharan and Muslim Students’ Federation activist Abdul Shukoor.
Organisations such as the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the Campus Front of India should be banned. The conspiracy behind the murder of Sachin Gopal should be unravelled. The party had planed a phase-by-phase agitation from September 26 to press this demand, he said.
Party workers would march to the office of the Superintendent of Police on the day. Protest meets would be held at Thalassery, Kannur, and Taliparamba between October 1 and 10. Public meetings would be organised at the panchayat level from October 25 to November 10, he said.
The restraint exercised by the Sangh Parivar after the murder prevented the outbreak of communal violence in the region. The police took no action to prevent the unrest, he said.
The attack on Sachin Gopal in Kannur and Vishal at Chengannur were identical in terms of weapon used and strategy adopted, he added.
Referring to K. Sudhakaran, MP’s, visit to Sachin Gopal’s house days after the incident, Mr. Ranjith said the delay could be attributed to the MP’s fear of losing Muslim votes. The MP had not condemned the murder and that revealed his attitude towards the PFI, he said.
Accusing Mr. Sudhakaran of trying to gain political mileage, Mr. Ranjith said the MP was venting his ire by speaking of an alliance between the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the BJP. As part of concerted action, the leaders of both the parties had visited the offices of the other and the kin of those killed. Though delayed, the CPI(M) move was laudable, he said.