Palakkad: A 27-year-old man strangeled a DYFI woman leader to death at her home near Chittilancherry in Palakkad district on Wednesday. 

Surya Priya, 24, was found dead in her room. Sajeesh, who surrendered later, has confessed to the crime, the police said. 
Surya was killed when her mother and grandfather were not home. The crime happened around 11 am on Wednesday. 

Surya's mother Geetha, uncle Radhakrishnan and grandfather Mani live in the house. Geetha and Radhakrishnan had gone to work. Mani had gone out for tea when Sujeesh arrived and strangled Surya to death.

After confirming that Surya had died, Sujeesh took her mobile phone and went to the police station to surrender. 

Even her neighbours found out about the incident once police reached the house.

Sujeesh and Surya were friends for a long time. However, both fell out over some issue, which eventually led to the murder, said police after the preliminary investigation. 

Surya was the secretary of the Kothanallore unit of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), the youth wing of the CPM. She was also a member of DYFI's Chittilancherry regional committee and also of the community development society (CDS) unit at the Melarkode panchayat and an active social worker.

The motive for the murder is yet to be ascertained. Alathur police said they were still gathering information from Surya's relatives and friends.