Alappuzha killings: State BJP chief calls for arrest of killers

BJP's Kerala State President K Surendran took aim at the home department and police over their failure to prevent crimes and bring those responsible to book

BJP's Kerala State President K Surendran on Sunday demanded the immediate arrest of the killers of the party's backward class leader and state secretary of OBC Morcha, advocate Renjith Sreenivas.

Speaking to IANS, Surendran said, "The SDPI killers are on a rampage in Kerala. This is the latest instance of a practising advocate being killed by an eight-member killer gang of SDPI and Popular Front. They barged into his house in the early morning on Sunday and hacked him to death in front of his mother and wife. He lives at the centre of Alappuzha town and this shows how callous the Kerala Police and the State Home Department led by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is."

Calling for the immediate arrest of the killers, he said that the police are yet to arrest those behind RSS leader Sanjith's murder in Palakkad district in November, despite his wife being a witness. He said, "This (delay in arrest) led to the SDPI, PFI killers getting emboldened to murder advocate Renjith Sreenivas at his residence."

Surendran also said that the Home department and Kerala Police must not make the investigation a farce, and instead, bring the culprits to book.

Also Read — Section 144 imposed in Alappuzha, Kerala after SDPI leader, BJP functionary killed

The Director General of Kerala Police, Anil Kant, speaking to mediapersons at Thiruvananthapuram said that police would take strong action and even senior leaders would be arrested, if necessary, during the course of the investigation. He said that police were on high alert and that this was an unfortunate incident.

The Inspector General of Police, South Zone, Harshitha Attaluri, who is in charge of the investigation, said, "Police have already taken into custody 50 people from various organisations, including the SDPI, PFI combine and RSS, BJP combine. We have also taken into custody a few history-sheeters as well as RSS and SDPI local level leaders and cadres."

The Kerala Police are, however, groping in the dark due to their intelligence failure, to prevent the murder of advocate Renjith Sreenivas.

It is to be noted that an SDPI leader, KS Shan, who was the state secretary of the party, was hacked to death on Saturday night. The SDPI alleged that the RSS-BJP combine was behind this murder. The SDPI and PFI took to social media baying for the blood of a BJP-RSS leader over Shan's death.

SDPI state President Muvattupuzha Ashraf Moulavi said, "Senior RSS leader Valsan Thillankery was yesterday at Alappuzha and he had called for the Hindus to strengthen and empower themselves. The killing of Shan was planned and executed with the blessings of Valsan Thillankeri."

RSS leader and Hindu Aikya Vedi State President Valsan Thillankeri said, "The SDPI and PFI are targeting the RSS and BJP leaders. They are even announcing these leaders beforehand as killers and then are targeting and killing such leaders. Police have to act stringently and bring the culprits of Renjith Sreenivas to book."

The last rites of both the leaders are set to be performed on Sunday evening.

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