Tense situation prevails at Kallyottu

Shops and houses of CPI(M) workers and bus shelters set on fire in the evening

A tense situation prevailed at Kallyottu on Monday evening after the funeral procession carrying the bodies of Youth Congress activists Kripesh and Sarath Lal who had been hacked to death on Sunday night passed the area.

Shops and houses of Communist Party of India (Marxist) workers and bus shelters were set on fire in the evening. A large contingent of police personnel were deployed in the area in view of the tense situation.

Heart-rending scenes were witnessed when the bodies were brought to their houses at Kallyottu on Monday. There was a huge turnout of people to pay their last respects.

After post-mortem examinations, the bodies were taken to Kallyottu in a funeral procession accompanied by Congress leaders. The ambulances carrying the bodies left the Pariyaram Medical College Hospital here at 12.30 p.m. It took nearly seven hours for the vehicles to reach Kallyottu, as the bodies were kept for public viewing in half-a-dozen places, including Neeleswaram and Kanhangad. Large crowds assembled on either side of the National Highway in many places to pay their last respects. The bodies were later cremated on the house premises.

Politically motivated

According to the polce the murder was well planned and politically motivated.

The investigation would look into the suspected involvement of local CPI(M) leadership in the murder.

Kasaragod District Police Chief A. Sreenivas told reporters at Periya that a special team, headed by District Crime Branch Deputy Superintendent of Police Pradeep Kumar, had been constituted to probe the case. The team would function under his supervision.

Trained gang?

Preliminary finding is that three people had been involve in the murder. The police said a ‘trained’ killer gang was apparently involved in the murders.