PALAKKAD/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two days after RSS worker A Sanjith, 27, was killed by suspected SDPI activists in broad daylight at Mambram in Palakkad and even after his wife said she could identify the five assailants — who did not wear face masks — the police are yet to make any headway in the case.
“We’ve formed nine teams and intensified our search for the culprits. Currently, we’re identifying those who had been involved in similar killings in the past and preparing a list,” said DySP P C Haridas, who is in charge of the probe.
Meanwhile, a BJP delegation led by state president K Surendran met Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Tuesday and urged him to direct the state government to hand over the case to the NIA. Sanjith, who was travelling on a motorcycle along with wife Arshika, was knocked down by a five-member group with a car and hacked at 9.30am on Monday. He died on the way to the Palakkad district hospital. Police said they were examining the CCTV footage to identify the car used by the assailants.
RSS man’s murder: Bloodstained machetes recovered from NH side
The police on Tuesday recovered bloodstained machetes, suspected to be the ones used by the attackers, from a sack found abandoned near the National Highway at Kannannoor. Arshika told reporters that the assailants — suspected to be SDPI activists — who had come in a car and attacked her husband, carried machetes.
At the time of the incident, many two-wheelers and a school bus had passed that way, she said. Arshika said she cried and pleaded with the attackers to spare her husband, but they did not listen. The attack took place in an isolated section of the road. It is also full of potholes. Hence, two-wheeler riders have to slow down to negotiate the potholes.
The attackers might have selected the spot for the same reasons, the police said. The postmortem report said there were more than 30 wounds on the body, mostly on the head. In the petition to the governor, Surendran said SDPI has got the backing of the C PM-led ruling dispensation. He said the state police did not provide adequate security to Sanjith though there were attempts to attack him earlier as well.
He added that on October 31, BJP worker Koppam Biju was stabbed to death allegedly by SDPI men. Accusing the CPM of being hand in glove with Islamic terror outfits, Surendran said their common goal was to annihilate nationalist forces in the state.