Palakkad: Four PFI activists held for RSS pracharak’s murder

The arrested four were identified as Muhammed Bilal, 22; Muhammed Riswan, 20; A Riyasudheen, 35; and Sahad, 22 — all PFI workers from Palakkad district.

Sreenivasan, 45, was hacked to death barely 24 hours after a local PFI leader, A Subair, was murdered, allegedly by RSS men. Earlier this week, three RSS men were arrested in connection with the killing of PFI’s Subair.

Police said those arrested on Thursday had aided and abetted the killing of Sreenivasan. The six-member gang which hacked Sreenivasan to death at his bike shop is still at large, police said.

ADGP Vijay Sakhare told the media that police have identified 16 accused in connection with Sreenivasan’s murder. “They (PFI activists) had conspired for a revenge killing on April 15, the day local PFI leader Subair was murdered. They met near a ground behind the mortuary of the district hospital, where Subair’s body was kept for the postmortem,” Sakhare said.

According to the ADGP, they zeroed in on Sreenivasan as the target as part of their revenge and executed the murder. Stating that the six-member gang behind Sreenivasan’s killing has not been arrested yet, Sakhare said they have been identified.

Police said that of the four arrested, three had allegedly taken part in the conspiracy and were present at Melamury, in Palakkad municipality, where the murder took place. The gang reached in three bikes, carrying swords, police said, and the pillion riders stormed into Sreenivasan’s shop and attacked him with swords multiple times. They left in the two-wheelers thereafter, police said.

According to police, Subair was hacked to death in Palakkad on April 15 as revenge for the murder of RSS worker S Sanjith last November.