Bloody revenge: BJP activist hacked to death in Kannur

Kannur, Oct 12: A BJP activist was hacked to death in Kerala's Kannur on Wednesday, in what is suspected to be revenge killing two days after a worker of the ruling CPI(M) was murdered in the same district.

The BJP has alleged the role of the CPI(M) in the killing of its activist Remith at a village in Dharmadom, which is Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's constituency.

The police have strengthened patrolling and deployment in sensitive areas across Kannur in view of the tense situation.

On Monday, 52-year-old CPI(M) worker Mohanan K was attacked at his toddy shop in a busy market and hacked to death by four or five men.

Police sources said the attackers were masked and "the attack is of a political nature."

The CPM has alleged that BJP workers were behind the attack.

Kannur has witnessed a string of attacks on political workers since the Left government came to power in May. Over 300 cases of political violence have been reported in the district in the past five months.

The opposition has accused the government of not acting against the growing political violence.

Grim statistics

The murder of Remith is the sixth political murder that the district has witnessed since May 1, when the law and order situation in parts of the district saw escalation.

The murdered people during the period include three CPI(M) workers and two BJP-RSS workers.

In addition to this, a BJP worker had died in a bomb explosion near Kathirur while handling bombs kept in his house. With the latest murder, this year's death toll in political violence in the district so far rose to seven, three CPI(M) workers and four BJP-RSS workers.