Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Crime Branch to probe murder of RSS activist

Staff Reporter

He was killed by an armed gang last week

Thiruvananthapuram: The State police have transferred the investigation of the sensational N. Sunil Kumar murder case to the Crime Branch. The victim, a top district functionary of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), was hacked to death by an armed gang at Kilimanoor early on Tuesday last.

Sunil Kumar, who was the RSS Jilla Seva Pramukh, figured as an accused in several cases, including the attack on Joseph Cooper, an American national and Protestant missionary, at Koppam in January 2003.

According to the police, Sunil Kumar, who was also an agent of the Janmabhoomi newspaper, was hacked to death by a seven-member armed gang in front of Mahadevashwaram Temple as he was packing the day's newspapers for distribution.

The assailants had come to the spot in a silver grey Toyota Qualis van bearing the registration number KL 01 V 1128. The police investigators later found the vehicle number to be false. The police had called for the ownership particulars of all silver grey Toyota Qualis vehicles. It is now learnt that there are more than 120 vehicles of the same colour registered in the State.

The Hindu Aikya Vedi had alleged that a religious fundamentalist organisation was behind the murder. However, the police said it was too early to reach such a conclusion.

The rural police have so far questioned more than 100 persons.

According to the police, a group headed by Sunil Kumar in Kilimanoor had roughed up certain youths owing allegiance to a religious fundamentalist organisation in 2004. The youths who accused Sunil of attacking them had later left for employment in the Gulf. Some of the youths had recently arrived at Kilimanoor with considerable sums of money. The police are investigating whether these youths had any role in Sunil Kumar's murder.

The police are also verifying the mobile and land phone call data records of certain persons who have emerged as suspects in the case.

The police are still in the dark about the motive of the murder and also the identity of the assailants.

The police are also not discounting the possibility that Sunil Kumar could have been killed to upset communal peace in the district.

The police said the murder was carried out in a high-profile manner. Five swords, suspected to have been used in the murder, were later found abandoned on the road at Pappalapangal Thadom.

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