PALAKKAD: The BJP has called for a dawn-to-dusk hartal in the district on Saturday following the death of its mandalam committee member Radhakrishnan,44, of Sree Vatsam, Pudussery, Kanjikode, on Friday. Essential services like milk, newspaper and Sabarimala pilgrims have been exempted from the hartal. Radhakrishnan's house was attacked and bikes parked on the premises were set ablaze by suspected CPM activists in the wee hours of December 28.Radhakrishnan and his wife Valsala, who rushed out seeing the blaze, began to douse the fire when the gas cylinder kept in the verandah caught fire and exploded.
Radhakrishnan was admitted to the Thrissur Medical College. A total of four persons, including two relatives suffered burn injuries. The brother of Radhakrishnan, Kannan, who was a former panchayat member, and his wife, Vimala, and the son of another brother Selvaraj, Adarsh, 20, were also injured. Vimala had reportedly suffered 80 per cent burns and was admitted to the medical college. Radhakrishnan succumbed to his injuries on Friday.
The BJP had alleged that the CPM was behind the attack. They had also named three of the four suspects who set fire to the bike.
The Kanjikode area has been the hotbed of frequent clashes between the CPM and the BJP cadre ever since the last Assembly elections. The BJP had come a close second to the CPM in the Malampuzha constituency relegating the Congress to the third position.