THRISSUR: In another case of post-poll violence in Kerala, a CPM activist who was injured in political clashes at Engandiyur in the coastal area of
Thrissur
district on Sunday night breathed his last at a private hospital in the city early Friday morning.
The hospital sources gave his name as Sashikumar (43) who is the son of Chemban Veettil Krishnakumar of Pokkulangara.
According to the police sources, Sashikumar was attacked at Pokkulangara bridge area when he was going home on a bike. The assailants, suspected to be a four-member group, were hiding under the cover of night and hacked Sashikumar when he reached the bridge area at around 10 pm on Sunday.
The CPM leaders alleged that the
BJP activists had attacked Sashikumar. The party has called a hartal from 12 noon to 6 pm at Engandiyur and six neighbouring panchayats including Nattika, Valappad, Vadanappalli, and Kaipamangalam, to protest against the
murder. The leaders said that vehicular traffic will not be affected by the hartal.
The police had earlier arrested six BJP activists in connection with the attack.
The coastal areas of Thrissur district have been witnessing clashes between the BJP and CPM activists, soon after the Assembly election results were announced on May 19.
V Pramod, a BJP activist, was killed at Edavilangu Kunneni near Kaipamangalam, during the victory procession of the LDF in the area on May 20. There was no let up in the political violence even though the police had declared prohibitory orders in several coastal areas of the district on May 21.
The post-poll clashes had triggered off verbal spar between the BJP and CPM leaders at the national level including Union Ministers like Ravi Shankar Prasad and BJP presidet Amit Shah, CPM Secretary Sitaram Yechury and politburo member Vrinda Karat.
Prasad even warned that CPM leaders should remember that it was BJP which is ruling at the Centre and many states. Yechury retorted by saying `the CPM cannot be cowed down' by such threats.
The BJP activists had also taken out a march to the AKG centre, in New Delhi, alleging that the CPM was unleashing violence in Kerala, where the party-led LDF has come to power with a clear mandate in the just-concluded Assembly poll.