An activist of the Democratic Youth federation of India (DYFI) was killed and six of his colleagues were critically injured in an attack carried out by an armed gang allegedly belonging to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) at Thooneri near Nadapuram in Kozhikode district at midnight on Thursday.
The police said Chadayankandi Shibeer, 19, who was stabbed in the neck died while being taken to the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital. He was a member of the Velloor DYFI unit.
The other injured DYFI activists were Kariyattu Ragil Rajan, 20; Ishwarvalliyathu Lineesh Balan, 24; Puthalathu Akhil Rajan, 24; Meethalapillakandi Aneesh Kelappan, 27; Vattakunni Vijeesh Nanu, 26 and K. R.Rajesh, 22. Vijeesh has been admitted to the Thalassery Indira Gandhi Cooperative Hospital in Kannur and other at the Kozhikode Medical College Hospital.
The victims said that the gang arrived in motorbikes when they were chitchatting near the Kannankaipillandi School at Velloor on Thursday night. They said they could identify the assailants. It was alleged that one of the attackers was booked under the Goonda’s Act.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has called a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Vadakara taluk comprising 22 grama panchayats and the Vadakara municipality on Friday. DYFI Central Committee member P.A.Mohammed Riyas and State secretary T.P.Bineesh, who visited the hospital, accused the IUML of masterminding the attack.
A large posse of police personnel has been deployed in the area following the incident. A tense situation prevailed in the rural belts. Hartal supporters have forcibly down shutters at mofussil towns from morning itself.
Significantly the attack was carried out after the new secretary of the CPI (M) P. Mohanan, took charge a week ago.
Vadakara taluk is a politically and communally sensitive area in the district. Hostilities between political parties and fundamentalist outfits occur routinely. At least two riots have been recorded on a daily basis in the rural areas of Kozhikode district for the past four years.
