Police have arrested nine people, including five alleged attackers, in connection with the murder of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) state secretary KS Shan here.
The arrested attackers have been identified as 27-year-old Atul OS from Mannanchery, 28-year-old Vishnu K. of Aryad, 25-year-old Dhanesh D. of Aryad, 27-year-old Abhimanyu KU from Mararikulam South and Sanand KU from Mannanchery.
Their arrest was registered on Saturday. He was arrested by a team led by Alappuzha Crime Branch Deputy Superintendent of Police V. Beni. Police said all the five arrested were Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh/Bharatiya Janata Party workers or sympathizers.
Besides this, the police on Sunday registered the arrest of four others in connection with the case. They were Pranav PV, 28, and Sriraj PK, 30, both from Mannanchery, Suresh, alias Sudhish, 49, and Umesh, 27, both residents of Thrissur in Thrissur.
Pranav and Shreeraj help the killer gang identify Shaan. Suresh and Umesh were booked for sheltering the murderer gang.
Shan was attacked by assailants on December 18 at around 7.30 pm at Kuppezam Junction in Mannanchery, Alappuzha. He died due to injuries around 11.30 pm. He was going home on his motorcycle when a car hit him. A group of some people came out of the car and attacked him.
So far, the police have arrested 14 people in connection with the murder. The other five were Rajendraprasad alias Prasad, 39, from Mannanchery, Ratheesh alias Kuttan, 31, from Mararikulam South, Akhil, 30, from Cherthala, Manish, 33, and Sanalkumar, 39, from Cherthala South.
Following the murder of the SDPI leader, a gang killed Ranjeet Srinivas, the state secretary of BJP’s OBC Morcha, at his house in Vellakinar of Alappuzha municipality on the morning of 19 December.
Police suspect that the murder was retaliatory. Police has so far arrested five SDPI workers in connection with the murder of the BJP leader.
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