The Hindu : Kerala News : Clashes continue in Malampuzha

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 31, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

Clashes continue in Malampuzha

Staff Reporter

Hartal total in Palakkad; injured CPI(M) activist dead; BJP leader stabbed

PALAKKAD: The dawn to dusk hartal called by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) to protest against the killing of one of their activist and stabbing another at Kadukkamkunnu near Malampuzha on Monday night allegedly by activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) was total in the district with stray incidents of violence on Tuesday.

The hartal supporters attacked and damaged a biscuit factory at Kanjikode which operated on the hartal day and there were some incidents of stone throwing at private vehicles.

The vehicles were off the road except some two-wheelers. Shops, business establishments and educational institutions remained closed.

Meanwhile, a CPI(M) worker Raveendran (30), son of Damodaran, Kuppichi Varappura House, Kadukkamkunnu, who was injured in the attack on Monday night succumbed to his stab injuries on Tuesday morning at a private hospital in Coimbatore. In the attack on Monday, his cousin Gopalakrishnan (45), was killed. The bodies of the slain CPI(M) activists were kept at the Malampuzha local committee office for the public to pay their last respect. The bodies were later cremated at the Chandranagar electric crematorium after post mortem at the district hospital on Tuesday afternoon.

The police arrested three BJP-RSS workers of Kadukkamkunnu on Tuesday in connection with the attack on the CPI(M) activists. The arrested were Kuttayi alias Rajesh (21), son of Narayanan, Manikhandan (21), son of Thankamani and Murukadas (22), son of Sivaraman.

Meanwhile, Malampuzha mandalam president of BJP Krishnaprasad was stabbed on Tuesday morning. He was admitted to the Thrissur Medical College Hospital and his condition is said to be serious. Tension prevailed in Malampuzha and the adjacent areas of Palakkad town due to the clashes. The Kadukkamkunnu area had witnessed clashes between the rival political parties earlier also. There was police picket at Kadukkamkunnu and it was withdrawn only a couple of days back.

District secretary of the CPI(M) P. Unni said that the gruesome murder of two CPI(M) workers was a pre-planned act of the ‘criminal gang’ of the RSS. This was a well-planned cold-blooded murder unlike the political clashes that had taken place earlier in the area.

The method and weapons used showed that the attack was to annihilate the opponents. If the RSS did not stop this sort of attack against their opponents they would have to face the consequences, he said.

The police intensified patrolling of the Palakkad town and Malampuzha areas. Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), Thrissur range, P. Vijayadas and District Superintendent of Police Vijay Sakhare are camping in the area.

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