SDPI leader Shan's murder was an act of revenge for RSS man's killing: Kerala police

The murder of K S Shan, a leader of the Social Democratic Party of India in Kerala's Alappuzha district, was an act of revenge committed by the members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), according to the police.

 

Shan was murdered to avenge the killing of an RSS activist in Pattanakad, as per the remand report filed by the probe team in a court. The police, in their report, state that the revenge murder was planned at a meeting held in Cherthala two months ago. The perpetrators of the crime also met on December 15.

 

The police said some leaders of the RSS knew about the plan.

 

Shan, the state secretary of SDPI, the political arm of the Islamic organisation Popular Front of India, was killed by a gang on December 18 while he was on his way home in Alappuzha, while the BJP OBC Morcha state secretary Ranjeet Sreenivas was hacked to death in front of his family by some assailants in his house the next morning in the same district.

 

Five RSS workers, involved in the killing of Shan, were taken into custody, on Friday. All the five were directly involved in the killing, ADGP (Law and Order) Vijay Sakhare said.

 

Sakhare is heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing into the recent back-to-back murders of Shan and Ranjeet.

 

The senior officer said the culprits who killed the BJP OBC Morcha leader have been identified and police teams have already gone to nab them. Earlier, Sakhare said as all those directly involved in the crime had managed to escape to another state, Kerala police have sought assistance from their counterparts in the neighbouring states to nab them.