The police probing the murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker U.C. Shamej at New Mahe on May 7 arrested three Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] workers on Saturday.
The arrested have been identified as Shibin Raveendran, 27, Lijin Chandran, 27, and M.M. Shaji, 36, who are natives of the suburbs of Mahe.
The police said the arrested had an active role in the murder of Shamej, apparently in retaliation for the killing of CPI(M) worker Kannipoyil Babu at nearby Palloor in Mahe of Puducherry the same day. The police said they were nabbed from a lodge at Vadakara in Kozhikode on Friday night.
The arrested were among the eight-member group involved in the murder of the RSS worker. The three had been directly involved in the killing of Shamej, an autorikshaw driver, by intercepting his vehicle on the New Mahe-Peringadi road around half an hour after Babu was hacked to death by alleged RSS workers. The police said the arrested were being questioned to secure information about the other accused.
When contacted, Thalassery circle inspector K.E. Premachandran, who is investigating the murder case, said the team hoped to nab the others in the next couple of days.
The delay in arresting the accused had drawn criticism from the BJP, which accused the CPI(M) of intervention in the investigation. The Puducherry Police had arrested four local RSS workers on charges of murdering Babu. Babu had been hacked to death by a five-member gang, according to the Puducherry Police. While the motive of Babu's murder was cited as the long-standing enmity between the victim and the accused, the enmity was viewed by the police as one driven by political rivalry between the two parties in the area.
