Alappuzha murders: 5 arrested; police suspect larger conspiracy
Those arrested were not part of the attack team, but had provided logistics support to the assailants, said Kerala police
Five persons have been arrested in connection with the recent murder of BJP functionary Ranjith Sreenivas in Alappuzha, but they were not part of the attack team, the police said on Wednesday.
Those arrested had provided logistics support to the assailants, the police said, adding that they suspected a “larger conspiracy” behind the killing of Sreenivas and local SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India) leader KS Shan. The arrested were prima facie sympathisers of the SDPI, a senior police officer said.
“There is a larger conspiracy behind the killings of Sreenivas and Shan,” said ADGP (Law and Order) Vijay Sakhare, the head of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the two back-to-back murder cases, which have rocked the State. Interrogation of the suspects is in progress to identify those who directly participated in the crime.
“The arrested persons were not part of the attack team. But they provided all logistics support to the attackers and participated in the conspiracy. There is good progress in the investigation,” he said.
The senior IPS officer, however, denied the SDPI leadership’s charge that police personnel investigating the case had forced their activists to chant Jai Sri Ram. “I am prepared to quit my job if anyone proves the charge,” Sakhare said.
Back-to-back killings
Shan, the state secretary of SDPI, was killed by a gang on Saturday night when he was heading 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.
An all-party meeting convened by the State government in the wake of the killings, on Tuesday, unanimously condemned the murders and urged all political parties to maintain peace.
Amid criticism from the opposition over the alleged lapses on the part of the police, the government said those involved in the killings would be rounded up and brought to justice. Police on Monday had arrested two persons in connection with the death of Shan and claimed they had obtained a “substantial lead” in the investigation into the murder of Sreenivas.
(With agency inputs)
