Kerala Governor seeks report from CM on twin political murders

Kerala Governor P.Sathasivam on Wednesday sought a report from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on the twin political murders that took place in and around the state's Kannur district.

On Monday late night, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) member K. Babu, 47, was slashed with swords by suspected Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activists in Mahe, a three sq km area which is part of Puducherry, but comes within the state, and borders Kannur.

Less than an hour later, Shanoj, 36, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) activist, was attacked with knives in Kannur and died in a hospital. Police said CPI-M workers could be behind the attack.

According to informed sources, Sathasivam has asked Vijayan to include the action taken report, also, as there were reports of violence breaking out in certain parts of Mahe on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Kerala police chief Loknath Behra and his Puducherry counterpart Sunil Kumar Gautam met in Thalassery, near Kannur, to discuss the case as investigating the murder in Mahe is the responsibility of Puducherry police.

"We had a meeting with the Kerala police chief and the probe has begun, with our team doing it," Gautham told the media.

Behra said: "We had a discussion on the incident and we have decided to cooperate to probe the case. We are sure that very soon the accused will be arrested."

Kannur district, which is the home district of Vijayan, has always been a sensitive area politically and has seen 13 political murders after he assumed office in 2016.

Out of these, in eight cases, CPI-M workers have been named as accused while in four, it is those of the BJP-RSS. In one case, workers of the Social Democratic Party of India are the accused.

The second-largest constituent of the ruling Left Democratic Alliance - the Communist Party of India on Wednesday expressed concern on what is happening.

CPI State Secretary Kanam Rajendran said that even though several all party meetings have taken place, the situation again turns bad after a while.

"In the past four months, four political murders have taken place.. this is a cause of concern and the state government should act," he said.

--IANS

sg/vd