KOCHI/MALAPPURAM: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday arrested Shamnad E K, a key accused in the 2022 murder of RSS leader K S Sreenivasan in Palakkad. The agency also took six Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) activists into custody for interrogation at its Kochi office.
According to NIA sources, Shamnad, from Manjeri in Malappuram district, was the second accused in the case and was directly involved in Sreenivasan’s murder. He was also reportedly part of a Popular Front of India (PFI) hit squad that carried out attacks on rival groups. Shamnad had been absconding since the murder and was carrying a reward of Rs 7 lakh for his arrest.
NIA officials received information that Shamnad had returned to his residence in Manjeri recently. A search operation was launched on Thursday, but he could not be found. Further investigations revealed that he was hiding in Karukapally, Kochi. The NIA team conducted a raid on Thursday evening, detaining Shamnad and two others.
Later, the agency also detained four SDPI activists from Manjeri, identified as Irshad Aanakkottupuram, Saithalavi Kizhakkethala, Khalid Mangalasery, and Shihabudheen Chengara. According to sources, the detainees were office-bearers of SDPI in Manjeri and were allegedly involved in aiding absconding suspects in the case.
The persons taken into custody were shifted to the NIA office in Kochi for detailed interrogation. Shamnad was produced before the NIA court on Friday and remanded in judicial custody. The agency is expected to file a petition seeking his custody for further interrogation.
SDPI leaders denied any knowledge of the reason behind the detentions. They said the agency intended to detain five individuals but managed to take only four and claimed that those taken into custody were not SDPI leaders but workers.
RSS leader K S Sreenivasan was murdered on April 16, 2022, at Melamuri Junction, Palakkad. The NIA took over the investigation amid allegations that the murder was part of a larger conspiracy involving communal violence and radicalisation linked to the banned PFI. The NIA has filed two chargesheets against 59 accused persons in the case. In a recent development, the Kerala High Court granted bail to 10 of the accused.