While the Mavelikara Additional District and Sessions Court-I has pronounced its verdict in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ranjith Sreenivas murder case, the trial in the killing of Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) State secretary K.S. Shan, considered the trigger for the murder of Ranjith, has not yet begun.
Shan, 38, was attacked by assailants at Kuppezham Junction at Mannancherry in Alappuzha around 7.30 p.m. on December 18, 2021. He succumbed to his injuries around 11.30 p.m. The SDPI leader was heading home on his motorcycle when a car rear-ended the two-wheeler. A group of persons came out of the car and attacked him with iron rods and other weapons. In less than 12 hours after the murder of the SDPI leader, a gang hacked to death Ranjith, 40, BJP OBC Morcha State secretary, in his house at Vellakinar in Alappuzha municipality around 6.30 a.m. on December 19, 2021, when he was about to go for a morning walk.
The trigger for the murder of Shan was the killing of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker Nandukrishna, 22, by SDPI men at Vayalar in Alappuzha on February 24, 2021.
Though the police have submitted a chargesheet against 13 people belonging to the RSS/BJP before the Alappuzha Additional District and Sessions Court-III in the Shan murder case, the court proceedings are yet to gain momentum.
The SDPI has accused the State government of bias. “The proceedings in the Shan murder case are making slow progress. Only recently a public prosecutor has been appointed in the case. All the accused in the SDPI leader’s killing are now out on bail. The government did not oppose their bail applications. It is acting in a discriminatory manner. We doubt the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in the State is following in the footsteps of the BJP government at the Centre that discriminates on religious and caste lines,” said SDPI State president Muvattupuzha Ashraf Moulavi.
Officials said that a hearing in the Shan case was scheduled for February 2.
Nandukrishna murder case
In the Nandukrishna murder case, the police have filed a chargesheet against 40 people belonging to the SDPI before the Alappuzha District Court. However, the trial in the case has not yet commenced. The proceedings in the case are expected to begin soon, said a police officer. The RSS worker was killed in the aftermath of a dispute that ensued between RSS and SDPI workers over the provocative language used by some of the speakers at a campaign meeting organised by the SDPI. On November 24 evening, members of both organisations conducted separate protest marches, ending up in clashes at Nagankulangara Junction, near Vayalar. Nandukrishna, who sustained injuries in the scuffle, died at a hospital. Another RSS worker, K.S. Nandu, sustained serious injuries in the attack.
