Kerala - Alappuzha   

RSS functionary’s murder sparks violence

ALAPPUZHA: Tension gripped the Vallikkunnu locality, situated on the border of Alappuzha and Kollam districts, after the death of the taluk karyavahak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) in Kambissery, near Vallikkunnu in Mavelikara, on Sunday and the subsequent violence on Monday.

Chenkilath Vinod, who had been officiating as the RSS taluk karyavahak after the murder of G. Chandran Pillai in April this year, was hacked to death late on Sunday night by a group of unidentified persons. The group chased Vinod, who was returning home after a football match at around 8 p.m., and killed him in the compound of a house near his own home.

Vinod is said to have sustained over 30 stab injuries.

The murder led to retaliatory violence in the night itself and the houses of two persons, Majeed and Nawaz, both in the same locality, were attacked.

On Monday, the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party called for a hartal in Mavelikara alleging that Vinod was killed by National Democratic Front (NDF) activists in retaliation to the murder of a trader, Asharraf, three years back. Vinod, according to police, was an accused in the murder as well.

According to the latest reports, tension still prevailed in the region after unidentified miscreants pelted stones at the funeral procession of Vinod and at the police personnel who were accompanying the procession. Mavelikara Circle Inspector A. Nasim and a few other policemen were injured in the stone-pelting near the Kadayikal market. Mr. Nasim and the injured policemen were shifted to an hospital with District Superintendent of Police E.J. Jayaraj and other top police officials in the region camping in Mavelikara. Over 600 policemen have been deployed in the area.

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