Kasargod : A protest and bundh against the murder of a RSS activist brought life to a standstill in Kerala and also turned violent at various places here on September 2.
All the schools and colleges in Kerala were given a holiday holiday to avoid inconvenience to the students. All the exams were postponed too. Many buses and other vehicles were damaged. Many shops were bombed, in Kannur Peralassery and one person was injured. A group threw stones at the RSS office in Ernakulam. In Pathanamthitta, buses were stoned. Three vehicles belonging to Cashew development corporation in Alappuzha. In Kochi, KSEB staff was tied and locked inside the office.
RSS district pramukh Elan Thottathil Manoj, 45, a native of Kizhakke Kathiroor, was hacked to death by unidentified assailants at Diamond Mukku, a known BJP-RSS citadel in Kathiroor near Thalassery, around 11 am on Monday. Another RSS worker, Pramod, native of Kathiroor, who was with Manoj, was seriously injured in the attack.
Pramod and Manoj were accused in the murder attempt in 1999 of P Jayaraj, a CPM district secretary. Manoj had tried to strengthen BJP in Kannur. Recently more than 500 people had joined BJP with the influence of Manoj.
RSS has blamed CPM activists for this murder.
A special team has been created to investigate the case, by the order of Home minister Ramesh Chennithala. The team has been created under Crime DYSP T P Premarajan.
