Prohibitory orders declared in Kerala's Alappuzha, DGP issues alert

Alappuzha district police have declared prohibitory orders under Section 144 of CrPc in the district, which prevents assembling of people, after two leaders K.S. Shan of Islamist organisation SDPI and BJP's OBC Morcha state secretary Ranjith Sreenivasan were hacked to death in a spate of 12 hours in the district.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a press statement condoled the murders and said the police would take stringent action against the culprits.

Meanwhile, the Director General of Police has issued an alert to all the district police superintendents in the 14 districts of Kerala following the killings.

State police have drawn flak after the back-to-back killings in the district of senior leaders of the respective political parties.

Ranjith Sreenivasan was killed at his residence in the early morning of Sunday in front of his mother and wife. Ranjith, according to his mother, was attacked by an eight-member gang at his residence, which is situated in the heart of Alappuzha town.

SDPI state president Muvattupuzha Ashraf Moulavi had threatened dire consequences in a press statement on Saturday after SDPI state secretary K.S. Shan was attacked by a group of men at Mannancherry in Alappuzha near his residence. The SDPI leader succumbed to his injuries at a private hospital in Ernakulam late Saturday night.

SDPI state general secretary P.K. Usman while speaking to mediapersons at Ernakulam said that senior leaders of the RSS were involved in the planning behind the murder of SDPI leader K.S. Shan. He called upon the police to take stringent action against the RSS leaders, including Hindu AIkya Vedi state secretary Valsan Thillankerin in the murder of Shan.