KOLLAM: The killing of a party worker at
Munroe Island
in
Kollam
prompted the chief minister to criticize both Congress and BJP. In his
Facebook Post,
Pinarayi Vijayan said
Manilal
was killed on Sunday night when he was campaigning for the
LDF
candidate and that five CPM workers were killed over the past 110 days. All culprits will be brought to book, he said.
There are reports BJP and
UDF
have forged an alliance in state for
local body polls
. They should make it clear whether these consecutive murders are part of their joint decision, he added.
CPM politburo member MA Baby wrote on Facebook that the accused in the case, Ashokan, had joined RSS after availing voluntary retirement from Delhi police. He asked police to investigate the conspiracy behind Manilal’s
murder. However, police said they were investigating the case and are yet to confirm whether Manilal’s killing was a political murder.
CPM state secretariat, in a statement, pointed out that the prime accused in the murder case was given BJP membership directly by party state president. The secretariat said the upcoming polls would give a befitting reply to BJP and Congress.
Rejecting CPM’s claim, BJP district leadership claimed that Manilal’s murder was part of CPM’s conspiracy. BJP district president BB Gopakumar alleged that Manilal’s murder was being thrust on BJP in view of CPM’s imminent electoral defeat. He reiterated that Manilal and Ashokan were CPM members. “Both men aren’t connected to BJP and RSS. All claims are baseless. It was personal enmity that led to the murder. CPM alleged political murder two hours after the incident,” he said, seeking an independent enquiry.
According to BJP Munroe Island panchayat committee’s T Ashokan, the accused had a two-storeyed building which was leased out to one Rejilal, a CPM worker and CPM workers were misusing the facility for anti-social activities. Ashokan’s wife questioned this and forced Rejilal to vacate the building, leading to problems. He claimed that Manilal was remanded in prison in an abkari case for two months and these incidents have direct link to the murder.
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