Police tighten probe into killings of BJP, SDPI leaders, more accused nabbed

Alappuzha: A Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by ADGP Vijay Sakhare on Monday arrested an RSS leader for allegedly harboring the accused directly involved in the killing of an SDPI leader in Kerala recently.

The SIT also made major headway in the investigation into the murder of a BJP OBC Morcha leader by taking into custody two SDPI workers who were allegedly involved directly in the crime, police said.

K S Shan, the state secretary of SDPI, was killed by a gang on December 18 night while he was on his way home in Alappuzha, while BJP OBC Morcha state secretary Ranjith Sreenivas was hacked to death in front of his family by some assailants in his house on December 19 morning in the same district.

A total of 15 accused persons, including the five attackers, have been arrested in connection with Shan’s murder case, police said. The RSS district-level leader, who was active in Aluva in Ernakulam, was arrested today for allegedly harboring the assailants of the SDPI leader, they said.

While five persons have been arrested in connection with the killing of Ranjith, two who were directly involved in the crime are in custody.

A week after this coastal district was rocked by both the murders, Sakhare said all the culprits involved in the heinous acts will be brought before law.

”We will arrest all those who were involved directly and indirectly in the killings”, Sakhare told PTI.

Police said they were also investigating the ”larger conspiracy” behind the two killings, and indicated that there would be more arrests.