Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan condemns killing of SDPI, BJP leader; section 144 imposed in Alappuzha region

The back-to-back killings of two political leaders in Kerala’s Alappuzha rocked the district to its core. The first party leader belonged to SDPI and the second to the BJP, and their killings led to the clamping of prohibitory orders by police on Sunday.

Following the killing of an SDPI state secretary, a BJP leader was hacked to death subsequently in 12 hours and prohibitory order under CrPC Section 144 was imposed in the entire Alappuzha district on Sunday, district officials said, according to PTI reports.

In view of the brutal killings, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan decided to address the issue and condemn the incidents. He further said that steps will be taken by the police to nab the culprits and those behind them.

The Kerala chief minister also said that such heinous and inhumane acts of violence were dangerous to the country and that people should keep away from such groups and their hateful activities. Both the killings took place in Kerala, just hours from each other.

KS Shan, the state secretary of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in Kerala, was brutally attacked on Saturday night while he was on his way back home and his party alleged the RSS was behind it. The police later stated that Shan succumbed to his injuries in a hospital in Kochi around midnight, as reported by PTI.

Hours later, BJP's OBC Morcha state secretary Ranjeet Sreenivas was hacked to death by some assailants who barged into his house on Sunday morning, police said. Police said it suspects the fatal attack on Sreenivas, also a member of the BJP state committee, was in retaliation to the killing of Shan.

Additional police forces have been deployed in the district while senior police officials remain camping in the area, PTI quoted State Police Chief (SPC), Anil Kant, as saying. ADGP-Law and Order would be heading the probe into the two killings, the police chief added.

He also said that the police would soon be rounding up troublemakers, 'goondas', and their leaders in the area to prevent another such incident from happening in the near future.

Kant also said a state-wide alert has been announced and all District Police Chiefs have been directed to closely monitor the law and order situation there and if required, prohibitory orders would be imposed and additional forces would be deployed.

(With PTI inputs)