KOLLAM: The Kunnicode police have arrested two persons suspected to have hacked to death a Kerala Congress (B) worker at Kokkad during a temple festival on Friday midnight. Saji, 45, and Anilesh, 38, both residents of Kokkad, have been arrested for the murder of Manoj, 37, of Mukkumala near Kokkad.
Manoj was the president of the Chackuvarakkal mandalam of the party’s youth wing, Youth Front (B).
The police said the murder resulted from a personal grudge Saji nursed against Manoj as the latter had assaulted him in 2016. An officer said that some time before he was found injured, Manoj was reportedly involved in a skirmish with a group of people at the annual festival of the Kokkad Shiva temple.
The Kunnicode police had registered a case against Manoj in 2016 for the assault on Saji. So the police have concluded that the attack on Manoj was a revenge. Saji and Anilesh have been booked under IPC section 302 (punishment for murder) and have been remanded in judicial custody for 14 days, the officer said. As Manoj was an active political worker, the KC (B) leadership had earlier alleged that it was a political murder requiring a thorough probe.
Manoj was found on a roadside at Kokkad on Friday midnight with critical injuries. He had deep lacerated wounds on the neck. Several fingers were also found to be severed. Though he was rushed to a hospital, his life could not be saved. KC (B) leader K B Ganesh Kumar had alleged Congress workers were behind the murder, and demanded a probe.