A tense situation prevails in and around Payyannur in Kannur district of Kerala following the killing of two people, allegedly by workers of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the BJP, on Monday night and early hours of Tuesday.
The deceased were identified as CPI(M) worker C.V. Dhanaraj (38) and C.K. Ramachandran (46), an autorickshaw driver and worker of the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, labour wing of the Sangh Parivar.
The police said Dhanaraj was hacked to death by a group of people inside his house at Karanthat in Ramanthali panchayat in front of his family at 10.30 p.m. on Monday. The assailants, carrying swords, came in motorcycles and stormed the house. He received multiple stab injuries in the attack, the police said. He died of his injuries after being taken to the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital.
Within hours, Ramachandran’s house at Annoor, near Payyannur, came under attack around 1 a.m. on Tuesday. The assailants hurled country-made bombs before entering the house and stabbed him to death. The houses and shops of some local BJP and RSS workers also came under attack.
The CPI(M) is observing a hartal in the Payyannur Assembly constituency in protest against the murder of Dhanaraj. Though vehicles were exempted from the hartal, very few vehicles were on the roads in the area in view of the tension prevailing there. Educational institutions remained closed.
The police said that personnel were deployed in the tension-hit areas. Patrolling would be strengthened to avert escalation of the situation, the police added.
