In the fallout of two political murders in Palakkad, Kerala, the district administration has issued a ban on male pillion riders on two-wheelers till 20 April. However, women and children are exempted from this ban.
Yesterday, Kerala Police had said the two back-to-back murders of an RSS and a PFI leader in the last two days in the district were part of a pre-planned conspiracy.
The ban adds to the existing set of restrictions that additional district magistrate K Manikandan imposed on Palakkad after two brutal murders — one of a Popular Front of India (PFI) operative and the other of a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) pracharak.
“Following the murders of PFI and BJP leaders, there is a possibility that it could lead to religious unrest and disruption of law and order situation. The existing ban will remain in place in Palakkad district till 6 PM on 20 April. Additional District Magistrate K Manikandan has altered the order, saying that no one except women and children is permitted to pillion ride in two-wheelers,” the post said.
While authorities have not officially disclosed the reason for banning men from pillion riding, the measure is suspected to have come as the modus operandi of political killings in the district usually involve a pillion rider who is carrying the weapon.
The Palakkad authorities’ order bans the assembly of five or more people in public places too. Further, there is a strict restriction on organising processions and meetings in public places. Moreover, the authority has banned carrying weapons or explosives. The police have started to monitor social media accounts, issuing warnings against people posting sensitive messages.
On 15 April, 43-year-old Subair, an operative of the Islamist PFI was killed in a village near Palakkad. He was allegedly hacked to death at Elappully in the district while he was returning home after offering prayers in a mosque on Friday afternoon. A car hit Subair while he was on a bike with his father and attacked him using sharp-edged weapons.
Subair’s father, who suffered injuries after falling from the bike, has been admitted to a hospital, police said. Police said that the car abandoned by Subair’s killers was registered in the name of Sanjith, an RSS worker who was killed last year allegedly by activists of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political offshoot of the PFI.
The next day, on 16 April, 45-year-old Srinivasan was hacked to death by a gang in Palakkad. A bunch of assailants attacked the RSS worker at his shop in Palakkad where the suspects had reportedly arrived on motorbikes.
Reacting to the attack, the BJP alleged that the SDPI was behind the killing of Srinivasan.
The ADGP (Law and Order) in Kerala, Vijay Sakhare, who reached Palakkad after the murder of RSS leader S K Srinivasan (45), told reporters here that “there is a conspiracy behind both murders. We will find out who is behind it. The killers were only foot soldiers.”
The ADGP of Kerala refuted the allegations that the police failed to prevent the RSS leader’s murder on Saturday despite there being a possibility of retaliation after the killing of PFI operative Subair (43) on Friday. Sakhare said it was “very very difficult” to prevent a planned murder and both the killings were ‘well planned.’
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