By ALAPPUZHA / The Hindu

The police have arrested two Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) workers allegedly with weapons from Ambalakadavu in Mannancherry grama panchayat.

The arrested have been identified as Sreenath and Sumesh, alias Bittu, both from Mannancherry.

The Mannancherry police said a case against them was registered based on a complaint that alleged that the RSS men tried to hack Navas Naina, a leader of the Social Democratic Party of India and Mannancherry grama panchayat member, with a sword.

P.K. Mohith, circle inspector, Mannancherry, said the duo were booked under sections 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) and 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) of the Indian Penal Code and section 27 (punishment for using prohibited arms) of the Arms Act.

SDPI leader Riyas K. Ponnad alleged that Mr. Naina accompanied by his friend Nishad was returning from a nearby mosque around 11 p.m. on Sunday when the incident happened. Mr. Nishad who blocked the attack sustained minor injuries to the palm of his right hand.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) termed the case “fabricated”. BJP leader R. Sandeep Vachaspati said the Popular Front of India (PFI) activists held the two men and brutally manhandled them before handing them over to the police. “No weapons have been recovered from them or from their homes. The police recovered weapons from a marshy land as pointed out by the PFI men. The PFI is trying to trigger riots in Alappuzha district. The police should not dance to the tune of religious extremists,” Mr. Vachaspati said in a statement here on Monday.

BJP district president M.V. Gopakumar has demanded a detailed probe into the Mannancherry incident.

Case against SDPI workers

On the complaint that the RSS men were assaulted, the police have registered a case against SDPI workers who could be identified.

The incident comes four months after two murders of leaders of the SDPI and the BJP rocked the district. SDPI State secretary K.S. Shan was killed in an attack by assailants in Mannancherry on December 18. Following the murder of the SDPI leader, a gang hacked to death BJP’s OBC Morcha State secretary Ranjith Sreenivas at his house at Vellakinar in Alappuzha municipality on December 19.

According to the police, the trigger for the murder of Shan was the killing of RSS worker Nandukrishna by SDPI men on February 24, 2021. The killing of Sreenivas was a retaliatory strike by the SDPI men to avenge the murder of Shan.

This article first appeared on thehindu.com