Special team formed under Vijay Sakhare to investigate the case
The State police have moved for the preventive detention of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders in the wake of the tit-for-tat political killings in Alappuzha.
A senior official said the targeted killings had raised the communal temperature in the State. Extreme fringe elements on either side of the religious spectrum could exploit the charged atmosphere to foment trouble.
Hence, the force has deployed in strength in localities with a history of communally tinged political violence to prevent vested interests from weaponising the “dangerous mood.”
State Police Chief Anil Kant said the police would not allow political violence to spin out of control. “We are moving fast and hard for the custody of potential trouble makers,” he said.
Mr. Kant announced the formation of a special team under Additional Director General of Police, Law and Order, Vijay Sakhare to investigate the case.
The SPC ordered overt and armed police presence on the streets at night. The police have posted pickets in sensitive localities in front of BJP and SDPI offices.
Mafia-style killings
Inspector General of Police Harshita Attaluri was camping in Alappuzha. An investigator said the twin murders had the imprint of a mafia-style hit-and-run operation.
For one, the police suspect that the assailants had used an ambulance to carry out the hit on BJP leader Ranjith Sreenivas.
Hours earlier, unknown persons had supposedly used a car to ram the scooter driven by SDPI State secretary K.S. Shan before hacking him to death, according to the police.
The police have sent mobile phone activity in the locality of the killing for forensic analysis, hoping the cyber examination would yield some clues regarding the identity of regular contacts of the assailants. Plainclothes squads were afoot collecting intelligence as the murder investigation readies to extend itself to other States.
An investigator said the police were also verifying whether a Kannur=based BJP leader in Alappuzha had incentivised the assailants to kill Shan. The SDPI had raised such an allegation. Moreover, the police view the murder of Sreenivas as a retaliatory strike.
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