CPI-M, BJP workers hacked to death in Kerala

Cases under IPC sections, including 302 have been registered and investigations are on

Two workers of CPI-M and BJP have been hacked to death in what is suspected to be a fall out of the political rivalry between the two parties in Kannur district.

In the first incident, CPI-M worker C V Dhanaraj (38) was attacked by some unidentified assailants, who came in a jeep and motorcycles, with machetes around 10:30 p.m. on Monday, when he was entering his house at Payyanur, police said.

He succumbed to his injuries en route to hospital, they said.

In a suspected retaliatory attack, at 1:00 a.m. on Tuesday, C K Ramachandran (52), a BJP worker and an autorickshaw driver, was murdered, allegedly by CPI-M activists at his house in Vellur village in the district, police said, adding, he was attacked with machetes.

CPI-M is observing a 'hartal' on Tuesday, in Payyanur to condemn the murder of Dhanaraj, police said, adding, the cremation would take place in the afternoon.

Cases under IPC sections, including 302 (murder) have been registered and investigations are on, they added.

Payyanur remains tense following the murders.

Kannur and some parts of the state had witnessed clashes between CPI-M and BJP workers after the May 16 Assembly election results.