‘Killers of BJP functionary identified, chasing them’

The SDPI workers who were taken into custody belong to Mannancherry, the native village of murdered SDPI secretary K.S. Shan.

Alappuzha: All the 12 accused, suspected to have been directly involved in the recent murder of BJP functionary Ranjith Sreenivas here, have been identified but they have managed to escape from Kerala, police said on Thursday while the arrest of another person was recorded in the murder of SDPI’s K S Shan for allegedly providing logistic support to the killers.

Special police teams were deployed to track down the absconding culprits and the probe has been extended outside the state, ADGP (Law and Order) Vijay Sakhare told reporters here.

The senior IPS officer, who heads the Special Investigation Team probing the back to back murder cases of Sreenivas and Shan, however, said they have got relevant information regarding the conspiracy in both cases but could not divulge the details as it would adversely impact the investigation.

“All the 12 accused, directly involved in the murder of Sreenivas, have been identified. But, none of them are in the state now. We are chasing them. They will land in police custody soon,” he said. Asked about the SDPI’s allegations against frequent police searches in the houses of party activists and sympathisers, he said raids would continue in the suspected hideouts of the accused as it was important to nab the culprits. An ambulance, suspected to have been used by the culprits, was seized by the police, he added.

Shan, the state secretary of SDPI, was killed by a gang on Saturday night while he was on his way back home, while the BJP OBC Morcha state secretary Sreenivas was hacked to death in front of his family by some assailants in his house on Sunday morning.

Five SDPI sympathisers had been arrested in connection with the murder of Sreenivas so far while the arrest of three persons had been recorded in the death of Shan, according to police. —(PTI)