Representational imageMuthukulam (Alappuzha): A young CPM leader, who was suspended from the party three weeks ago, lost two fingers on the left hand when a six-member gang hacked him on Saturday night. Shan, 26, a resident of Kalarikkal Padeetathil, Eruva West, sustained serious injuries in the brutal attack. The veins on the hands were cut but narrowly missed his neck.
Shan was later admitted to a private hospital in Kochi. He was talking to his friends in front of the cultural center at Kareelakkulangara on Saturday night when the miscreants arrived on two motorbikes and assaulted him. The gang members created panic in the area and scared away the local people before the ambush. They first struck him down with glass shards wrapped in a cloth. Then they whacked him with an electric rod before hacking him with a sharp weapon on the neck. Shan got his fingers chopped off when he tried to defend the attempt at his neck. The miscreants left the scene when the local people regrouped and challenged them.
Shan was a member of the Kareelakulangara local committee of the CPM and the area secretary of the DYFI when he was suspended from the party recently. The CPM suspended Shan and three others from the party for a year citing that they had circulated a notice against a party district secretariat member six months ago. He was also removed from the post of area secretary of the DYFI. The party took the disciplinary action after an internal inquiry commission found that he was engaged in anti-party activities. At a public meeting organized by the CPM against the circulation of the notice, some leaders had openly threatened that whoever were trying to destroy the party would have to face dire consequences. It is also alleged that some leaders even went to the extent of declaring that they would not shy away from settling the score physically.
Intimidating posts also appeared on social media against party activists who circulated the controversial notice. One of the party men who faced disciplinary action had submitted a memorandum to the CPM district leadership seeking police protection.
Meanwhile, there are murmurs of protest within the CPM over the attack on Shan, just weeks after he faced a disciplinary action. Resentment is also brewing in the party against the hasty disciplinary action. Some sections in the party believe that the inquiry report on an incident that took place six months ago was dusted off purposefully, ahead of the organizational meetings in the party. A section of leaders have also demanded a party level inquiry into the attack against Shan.
According to K. Sadan, CI of Kayamkualm police, Shan has mentioned about two attackers whom he may be able to identify. The officer also suspected that the attack was carried out by a 'quotation gang.'
Read: Latest Kerala news | Kollam-TVPM back and forth for treatment, patient dies in ambulance
