An hour after the incident, RSS worker Parambathu Shamoj, an auto-rickshaw driver was killed. (Representational image) An hour after the incident, RSS worker Parambathu Shamoj, an auto-rickshaw driver was killed. (Representational image)

A CPI (M) worker was hacked to death in Mahe, a district under union territory of Puducherry, adjacent to Kerala’s politically-sensitive Kannur district on Monday night. An hour after the killing, an RSS worker was murdered in Mahe in a suspected retaliatory attack.

Mahe police identified the murdered CPI (M) worker as Kannipoyil Babu, 45, a native of Pallur in Mahe. “He was hacked by an unidentified gang at 9.15 pm about 200 meters away from his house under Pallur station limits. He sustained mortal injuries on neck. Prima facie, it seems to be a political murder. There had been stray incidents of violence in the region involving BJP and CPI (M) in the past. However, there hadnt been any issue in the recent days,’’ said Pallur station house officer R Shanmukham.

An hour after the incident, RSS worker Parambathu Shamoj, an autodriver was hacked. “Shamoj was returning home by his autorickshaw when a gang waylaid the vehicle and hacked him. Shamoj, who sustained serious injuries, died while being taken to hospital in Kozhikode,’’ said police.

Following the twin murders, a tense situation is prevailing in Mahe and adjacent regions of Kannur district. The murdered Babu is a member of the CPI (M) local committee and a former councilor of Mahe municipality. Blaming the BJP/RSS behind the murder, CPI (M) called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal in Kannur and Mahe on Tuesday.

In a statement, CPI (M) Kannur district secretariat deplored the killing. “The murder shows that RSS is not ready to abandon the killer knife in Kannur where peace has been prevailing for some time. Babu had survived another attempt on his life last year. This murder was planned and executed by the RSS. The murder has happened after the arms training camp of RSS at Koothuparamba was over,’’ said the statement.

Earlier in the day, Kannur police had recovered crude bombs from Thillankery village in the district.

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