Kerala - Kannur   

Freedom-fighter Rayarappan dead

Staff Reporter

KANNUR: Freedom-fighter and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader K.P.R. Rayarappan died here on Wednesday. He was 96.

Brother of the late Communist leader K.P.R. Gopalan, Mr. Rayarappan died at the AKG Hospital here in the morning. He had been in the hospital for a week following age-related ailments. Cremation would be held at his home village at Kallyasseri here in the evening.

The body was kept at the Communist Party of India (Marxist) district office and the Bank Auditorium at Kallyassery for public viewing.

Mr. Rayarappan, drawn to politics during his student days, had been actively involved in the activities of the Karshaka Sanghom unit started at Kallyasseri by K.P.R. Gopalan and Keraleeyan. He also served as Kallyasseri unit secretary of the Communist Party. He had been arrested in 1946 following the Karivellur and Kavumbai agrarian struggles and had undergone imprisonment in the Central jail here and in Vellur. He had been in jail for a total term of seven years and had gone underground for five months.

A bachelor, Mr. Rayarappan also served as chairman of the Kerala State Handloom Development Corporation and of the Kannur Circle of Cooperative Union.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and CPI State secretary Veliyam Bhargavan are among those who condoled Mr. Rayarappan's demise.

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