Man with direct role in Sreenivasan murder held in Kerala
PALAKKAD: In a crucial development, the police team probing the murder of RSS activist Sreenivasan arrested on Sunday a PFI/SDPI activist who was directly involved in the crime. According to police, Mohammed Iqbal, 34, alias Abdul Khader, a native of Puddanoor near Mundur, was among the assailants who came in three two-wheelers and hacked Sreenivasan to death at his shop around 1pm on April 16.
The police also recorded the arrest of another PFI/SDPI activist, Fayaz, 28, a native of Chadanamkurissy, on Sunday. Fayaz was among the 16 people who hatched the conspiracy and provided logistic support to the killers, the police said.
Though the police had earlier arrested seven persons in the case, the probe team was under tremendous pressure as they could not nab even one of the six persons who came on two-wheelers to attack Sreenivasan.
According to the police, Mohammed Iqbal rode one of the two-wheelers in which the attackers reached the spot. With Sunday’s arrest, a total of nine persons have been held in the case. While eight of them, including the Imam of the Shankuvarathode mosque, Saddam Hussein, 30, were involved in conspiracy and providing shelter to the perpetrators, only Mohammed Iqbal was directly involved in the killing of Sreenivasan, the police said.
The five other SDPI/PFI activists who were directly involved in the crime are still at large, they said.
Meanwhile, the police carried out raids at the offices of SDPI and PFI at Pattambi and Thrithala in connection with the probe into Sreenivasan’s murder.
The youths arrested on charges of conspiracy and providing logistic support have allegedly told the police that all the directions for attacking Sreenivasan was given by SDPI/PFI leader Abdul Rasheed of Pattambi.
Earlier, the party offices and houses of SDPI leaders in Palakkad were searched as part of the probe. The police suspect local leaders of PFI/SDPI in Pattambi and Thrithala may be harbouring the killers.