BJP demands CBI probe into RSS activist's murder, rejects all-party meet

Kannur: BJP Wednesday demanded a CBI probe into the murder of RSS activist Manoj and boycotted an all-party meet called to ensure peace in the politically sensitive area holding that agreements of such initiatives in the past had been breached by CPI (M).

Expressing dissatisfaction at the state government's decision to conduct a probe by a Crime Branch team into the killing, senior BJP leader PK Krishnadas said only a CBI investigation could unearth the "high-level conspiracy" hatched by the CPI (M) leadership to carry out the murder.

ADGP S Ananthakrishnan, who is supervising the case, constituted the team headed by Superintendent of Police Ramachandran to investigate the murder.

The team included a couple of DySPs who were part of the investigation into the politically sensational TP Chandrasekharan murder case, apparently in view of their familiarity with the political nuances of the north Kerala district, which has a long history of RSS-CPI(M) clashes which had claimed several lives in the past.

BJP district leadership, which met earlier in the day, decided against participating in the all-party meet called by District Collector Balakiran.

Party district president K Ranjith told reporters that similar exercises in the past had proved futile with the CPI (M) leadership flouting agreements reached at the meets.

CPI (M) leaders, who turned up for the meet, strongly refuted any role in the murder and alleged that the move to register case against party workers was the result of a "Congress-BJP conspiracy".

Manoj (42), a district functionary of the RSS, was hacked to death by a gang, allegedly by CPI (M) workers, on Monday after halting him by throwing crackers at the van in which he was travelling at Kathirur near Thalassery town.

The killing shocked the Sangh outfits as it happened on a day when BJP president Amit Shah was in Thiruvanthapuram and when the RSS chief Mohan Bhagawat had just concluded a week-long visit to the state.

Though certain pockets of Kannur were witness to violent political clashes and murders involving workers of the RSS and CPI (M) for decades, the area had been largely calm for the last few years.

Tension resurfaced in the area with the rivals poaching disgruntled workers from each side, especially in hyperactive areas like Kathirur on the outskirts of Thalassery town.