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Murder of RSS man: two main accused arrested

Staff Reporter

Police looking for gang leader who plotted the act

Thiruvananthapuram: The city police on Friday arrested the two main suspects in the murder of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) activist Renjith at Mannanthala here on October 17, 2008.

Assistant Commissioner (Cantonment) K.S. Gopakumar identified the accused as ‘Ambalamukku’ Krishnakumar, 35, of PTP Nagar and Suresh, alias Kannan, 22, of Vanchiyoor.

The police said Kannan’s role in the murder had come to light only recently.

He is a close associate of Krishnakumar and had the gang leader’s initials tattooed on his arm, Circle Inspector (Peroorkada) D. Asokan said.

Earlier, the police had arrested 11 persons, including four engineering college students owing allegiance to Krishnakumar’s gang, in connection with the murder. They are searching for one ‘Karate’ Suresh, another gang leader, on the charge of plotting the murder.

The police case is that Renjith was killed in retaliation to the murder of Communist Party of India (Marxist) activist Vanchiyoor Vishnu in July 2008. Vishnu’s close friends and business associates Vanchiyoor Hariprasad, Chukkran Ajith, Motta Aji and Velli Narayanan, all CPM workers, are the other accused in the case.

Krishnakumar is a graduate in English Literature. He is accused in more than 10 cases, including three gangland murders.

The police said he got involved intensively with underworld after his graduation from the S.N. College, Chempazhanthy, chiefly because of his habit of abusing drugs.

He evoked intense loyalty among gang leaders and also a set of impressionable youth in the city.

The police said most of the crimes he committed were for his underworld friends who cleverly exploited his strong sense of personal loyalty.

He was arrested for the first time in February 2006 on the charge of attempting to murder one Gopakumar at Kudapanakunnu.

In April the same year, he was arrested again for attacking one Ratheesh Babu at Ilayampallikonam.

In 2007, the police arrested Krishnakumar and his armed gang on the charge of storming into a bar at Injackal and hacking to death one Jayan, who was manning the bar counter. Several other persons, including customers and hotel staff, were injured in the attack. Earlier, one of the hotel staff had reportedly assaulted a close friend of Krishnakumar.

The police said that a gang headed by absconding gang leaders Om Prakash and ‘Karate’ Suresh recruited Krishnakumar for the murder of a rival underworld don, ‘Aprani’ Krishnakumar, on the National Highway bypass, near Chakka, in 2007.

The police said ‘Aprani’ Krishnakumar was one of the henchmen of Om Prakash’s underworld rival and absconding gang leader ‘Attingal’ Ayyappan.

Krishnakumar was also named as accused in the case relating to the attempted murder of an RSS activist, near Palkulangara.

The police said they had prevented a series of gangland revenge killings with the arrest of Krishnakumar. The suspect always travelled armed with a machete and crude bomb and in the company of similarly armed youth fearing retaliation from the RSS.

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