Alappuzha(Kerala): The Special Investigation Team (SIT) have arrested five SDPI (Social Democratic Party of India) workers on Wednesday in relation to the murder of BJP OBC Morcha's state secretary Renjith Sreenivasan.
Sreenivasan was allegedly killed by 12 bike-borne men on December 19. The SIT team led by ADGP (Law and Order) Vijay Sakhare which was setup had procured substantial leads on the identities of the assailants.
It has emerged that the BJP leader's murder is to exact revenge on the SDPI leader.
KS Shan, the state secretary of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) in Kerala, was brutally attacked on Saturday night while he was going to way home and his party alleged that the RSS was behind it.
Shan succumbed to his injuries at a Kochi hospital around midnight, police said.
Prohibitory order under CrPC Section 144 was imposed in the entire Alappuzha district on Sunday, district officials had said.
Hours later, BJP's OBC Morcha's state secretary Ranjith Sreenivasan was hacked to death in his home by some assailants, who barged into his house on Sunday morning, police said.
Police said it suspects the fatal attack on Sreenivasan, also a member of the BJP state committee, was in retaliation to the killing of Shan.
The SDPI leader was on his way home when a car rammed into his bike and as he fell down, the assailants attacked him leading to his death, police said.
With the BJP's leader's killing, prohibitory order was clamped.
By afternoon, IG Harshita Attaluri told reporters that police has taken into custody around 50 people, including anti-social elements, public as well as workers of BJP, RSS and SDPI.
The officer said that not all of the persons in custody are criminals and that the police was "examing and investigating" the two cases.
Also read: Two arrested in connection with Kerala SDPI leader's killing: Police
