Parts of Palloor in Mahe and nearby areas remained tense as a local BJP office and a Puducherry police vehicle were set ablaze by alleged CPI(M) workers after the funeral of slain CPI(M) worker Babu Kannippoyil at his house at Palloor on Tuesday afternoon.
The BJP office at Irattappilakool under the Palloor police station of the Puducherry Police was set afire by irate CPI(M) workers who gathered in the area in connection with the funeral of Babu who was hacked to death by alleged RSS workers at Palloor late Monday.
The police jeep parked near the BJP office was also torched by the party workers.
The incident occurred at 4.30 p.m., the police said. The police also said that there were reports of attacks on houses and shops in the area.
Normal life in the district was hit by the hartal called separately by the CPI(M) and the BJP in Kannur district and Mahe. While the CPI(M) called for the hartal in protest against the murder of Babu, the BJP observed the hartal to condemn the murder of RSS worker U.C. Shamej at New Mahe in a retaliatory attack late Monday night.
The police were on a high alert in the tension-hit areas of Thalassery and Mahe in view of the funeral processions.
Shops and commercial establishments in the district and Mahe remained closed in response to the hartal calls.
Though vehicles were exempted, hartal supporters from the rival parties stopped road traffic in some places in Mahe.
The police said a tense situation prevailed in the areas between Mahe and Thalassery.
Trade charges
CPI(M) district secretary P. Jayarajan demanded that the alleged role of RSS leaders in the murder of Babu Kannippoyil be investigated. He told reporters that Babu’s murder was yet another proof that the RSS was not prepared to abdicate violence. He said that the murder of the CPI(M) worker was soon after a camp held by the RSS at Thokkilangadi, near Koothuparamba. Noting that the murder of RSS worker U.C. Shamej following the killing of Babu was unfortunate, the CPI(M) leader said that such incidents should not happen. He also accused the Puducherry Police in Mahe of favouring the RSS.
BJP district president P. Sathyaprakash said that neither the BJP nor any Sangh Parivar organisation had any role in the murder of the CPI(M) worker. The murder of Shamej in response to the earlier murder was planned, he said calling for a proper investigation into the murder.
