BJP denies CPM allegation in Palakkad local leader’s murder

Palakkad: The BJP has refuted the charges that RSS activists were behind the murder of a local CPM leader in Palakkad on Sunday night.

BJP State General Secretary C Krishnakumar on Monday said that CPM was spreading fake news that Shajahan was killed by the RSS.

Krishnakumar said here that Shajahan has close connections with those like Arjun Ayanki whom he tarmed “CPM criminals.”

He added that the allegation that the murder is committed by those who left the CPM to join BJP was baseless, and that no one from the party would be named accused in the same. 

It was on Sunday night that Kunnangadu resident Shajahan, who was a local committee member of the CPM, got hacked to death by  bike-borne members of a gang at the Marutha road near here. 

The incident happened at around 9:30 pm near the leader’s house. Though he was immediately taken to the hospital, his life could not be saved.

Earlier, CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury had refuted CPM state leader’s assumption that the murder was committed by the RSS. According to him, it wasn’t time yet to conclude so.

CPI State Secretary Kanam Rajendran had also taken this position, earlier. He had said that as soon as a murder is committed, it’s not right to make allegations.

Let the police find whether someone is trying to deter peace. All the parties in the Assembly had distanced themselves from such murders, he said. 

“The investigation is underway. We are recording statements of eyewitnesses. The culprits will be arrested soon,” a senior police official had told reporters on Monday.

Police have also begun examining CCTV visuals from the nearby areas.

CPM unit members said Shajahan was out arranging decorations for the Independence Day celebrations on Monday.