Kannur: CPM leader Babu Kannippoyil, a former councillor in the Mahe municipality, was hacked to death in Mahe on Monday by a 10-member gang, the police have said. Within an hour, eight men murdered an RSS activist in New Mahe, Mahe sub inspector B Vimal Kumar told Manorama News.

Kerala police chief Lokanath Behera said that the Mahe police have sought help from their Kerala counterparts to nab the men behind the two murders that rocked Mahe on Monday. Behera termed the politically motivated murders as unfortunate.

The police have beefed-up security along the borders with Mahe after the killings. Behera said that the police were trying to prevent any murders and were dealing with the cases with an iron hand.

Babu, aged 45, was ambushed near the Koyyodan Koroth Temple at Palloor around 9:15 pm while he was going home on his motorcycle. He was rushed to a hospital in Thalassery but the hacks on his head, neck and stomach proved fatal.

The murder set off a chain of events that resulted in the killing of BJP man, Shamej Parambath, aged 42, in New Mahe within 45 minutes. Shamej was also going home in his auto rickshaw, hardly 3 km from the spot where Babu was killed, when the eight-member gang pounced on him. He died on the way to a hospital in Kozhikode.

The police have registered both murders as politically motivated. The current killing spree started on January 19 when RSS activist Shyamaprasad was hacked to death at Kannavam near Kannur. The next to fall was a Youth Congress leader, Shuhaib.

Shuhaib’s heinous murder on February 12 led to a public outcry across the state, forcing the major political parties to negotiate peace among the warring cadres.

The latest murders threaten the fragile peace in the volatile district and neighbouring areas. Both the CPM and the BJP have called for a hartal in Kannur and Mahe.

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