A toxic mix of personal and political rivalry had motivated the mafia-style hit-and-run killings of two Youth Congress activists near Periya in Kasaragod district on Sunday night, according to the police.
They said the slained Youth Congress workers, Kripesh, 24, and Sarath Lal, 21, were “rising stars” in local politics and often challenged the fiefdom of older politicians. The police had booked the men recently on the charge of attempting to murder a local CPI(M) leader.
Balaram Kumar Upadhyaya, Inspector General of Police, Kannur Range, told The Hindu that the immediate priority of the police was to prevent any reprisals.
The police have expanded their investigation to Karnataka. The IG has put two teams on the case. One would handle legal documentation and collection of evidence. The other would be on the field, pursuing leads and tapping sources for information about the assailants.
Investigators said the detection of the case hinged on identifying the vehicles used by the assailants. They have found two abandoned motorbikes with altered registration plates in the locality. The police were vetting information that a van was involved.
The assailants had ambushed the youths on a remote and narrow part of the road on their regular route home. The police said the killers had primarily targeted Kripesh. They had executed Lal, who had joined Sarath by chance, so as not to leave behind an incriminating witness.
The police were wrestling with the problem of lack of witnesses. The nearest house was at least 200 m away from the murder spot. The incident had occurred at 7.30 p.m.
Officers said they believed that a set of spotters could have tailed the Congress workers who were returning home after attending a meeting held in connection with an upcoming local temple festival. They could have helped the hit team target the victims accurately.
Investigators said they were sifting through hours of traffic camera footage in an attempt to analyse vehicle movement in the area. The festival at a local temple had caused unusually heavy traffic in the locality. “Without a specific vehicle number, we are in the blind for now,” an officer said.
Investigators were dissecting mobile phone metadata to identify any other devices that might have remained switched on in the vicinity of the crime scene when the murders unfolded. A. Srinivas, District Police Chief, Kasaragod, led the search for suspects.
