Palakkad: A youth was hacked to death by assailants at Elappully in Kerala's Palakkad district on Friday.
The youth has been identified as 43-year-old Subair. He was travelling with his father on a bike when the gang attacked him.
Though Subair was rushed to the hospital, he could not be saved.
His father Kuppiyod Aboobacker, who too was hurt after falling off the bike, is undergoing treatment at the hospital.
Subair was a district committee member of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI).
The local SDPI unit has raised allegations that the murder was plotted by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
They alleged that this was retaliation for the murder of 27-year-old RSS worker Sanjith last year.
Aboobacker too had said that the RSS workers were hostile towards his son.
The police has not dismissed this angle yet. The Palakkad SP has tasked a team including Crime Branch DySP and five CIs to investigate the case.
Police IG Ashok Yadav too has called a review meeting in wake of the murder. He visited both the Palakkad SP and district police chief R Viswanadh on Friday.
The attack
Subair, who was returning home after visiting the mosque with his father, was mere metres away from his house when the assailants fell on them.
The gang had come in two cars, one of which is believed to belong to Sanjith.
The first car rammed into the bike Subair and his father was travelling on, knocking them onto the road.
Occupants of the second car arrived where the duo had fallen and hacked Subair to death with machetes.
The first car rode on after making sure that Subair was indeed dead.
The second car was abandoned at the crime spot after it developed a puncture, the police said.
RSS activist Sanjith too had met a similar fate. He was knocked off his bike and slashed with machetes on November 15, 2021.
Sanjith was also resident of Elappully.
The police had arrested several SDPI workers then, including Mohammad Haroon, the suspected key conspirator behind the attack.
'Be vigilant'
Amid widespread demonstrations by the SDPI over the death of their worker Subair, DGP Anil Kant has directed the district police chiefs to be vigilant.
