The murder of CPI(M) Kunnakkad branch secretary and Marutharoad local committee member Shajahan at Malampuzha on Sunday night was a result of strong enmity that a group of men harboured towards him, said the police here on Wednesday.
The police have rounded up eight persons in connection with the murder. All of them, said the police, had worked with Shajahan, and some of them kept away from party work after Shajahan became the branch secretary.
A special investigation team led by Palakkad Dy.SP. V.K. Raju picked up Sabareesh, Aneesh, Naveen, Sivarajan, Sidharthan, Sujeesh, Sajeesh and Vishnu. The arrest of four of them – Naveen, Sabareesh, Aneesh and Sujeesh – was recorded. The police said a few others were also involved in the murder.
The accused had reportedly opposed the high-handedness of Shajahan as party branch secretary and harboured hatred towards him for the past three years.
They had raised flex boards of Ganesh festival and Sri Krishna Jayanti at Kalippara on Sunday. Shajahan had questioned Naveen wearing a rakhi friendship band on his hand, and removed that band.
Naveen and his friends later picked up an argument with Shajahan on Sunday evening. Soon, according to the police, the accused went home and brought long knives and blades from home and hacked Shajahan around 9.45 p.m.
The police said an investigation was on to ascertain if any other external forces played a role in the murder. The investigation team, however, refused to rule out if it was a political murder.
According to the police, although eight persons had taken part in the murderous attack, there may be more people involved in the crime.
Shajahan had suffered 12 wounds on his arms and legs. According to the postmortem report, he died of severe bleeding.
