On Thursday, October 26, the Kerala police arrested three SDPI members for allegedly attacking RSS workers. The incident took place on Sunday, October 22, while the RSS members were returning home after attending a Dusshera rally in Karunagapalliin the Kollam district of Kerala. The accused were identified as 26-year-old Naufal, a resident of Karunagapally Thazhava; 24-year-old Yasim of Kulasekharapuram Siya Mansil and 23-year-old Ajmal, a resident of the Thazhava village in Kollam, Kerala.
The victims were identified as Akshay Kumar, Madhun Lal, and Kiran, all residents of the Punnamkulam town in the Thrissur district of Kerala.
The police said that all three accused who are members of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) which is the political wing of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) have a criminal history.
After the RSS procession on Sunday night, the RSS workers got off the bus at Puthiyakavu and were heading home when the accused Naufal, Yasim and Ajmal attacked them.
Akshay Kumar suffered serious injuries in the incident and was admitted to Karunagappally Taluk Hospital. His arm was broken by the SDPI goons.
Akshay and the other witnesses gave their statements to the police, based on which the police registered a case against the three accused SDPI members.
Witness statements and circumstantial evidence were used to identify the accused, the police said, adding that Naufal and Ajmal are accused in several criminal cases.
The police also revealed that since the accused had in the past absconded to Goa and Karnataka after committing various crimes, this time they deployed police units at various railway stations and bus stands to make sure that the accused do not get the chance to flee. Although the accused had switched off their mobile phones, the Karunagappally police team located their hiding place and apprehended them from Kayamkulam, 15 km north of Karunagapally.
On 28 September 2022, the Central government banned the Islamist outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) and eight of its associates for five years under a stringent anti-terror law, accusing them of having links with global terror organisations, including ISIS. However, its political affiliate Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) was the only organisation of the radical Islamist outfit that was not banned by the Central government last year. Therefore, after being declared illegal in September of last year, the Popular Front of India (PFI) made SDPI a backyard of its erstwhile cadres to continue its operations in states like Karnataka and Kerala.
It may be noted that before the central government had banned PFI, the Kerala High Court had observed that the Popular Front of India (PFI) and the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) are extremist organisation indulging in serious acts of violence. The Kerala High Court further noted that both SDPI and PFI have a history of attacking members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
The murder of RSS worker A Sanjith by SDPI goons
On November 15, 2021, a 26-year-old Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker Sanjith was hacked to death in front of his wife in Ellapully, Palakkad. In broad daylight, the assailants who came in a car waylaid Sanjith’s bike and attacked him in front of many people including his wife.
As per reports, many of the accused in the case was linked to the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), the political wing of the extremist Islamic outfit Popular Front of India (PFI).
On January 24 this year, Mohammad Haroon, the key conspirator behind the case was arrested by Kerala Police. Haroon was actively involved in planning the murder along with other associates from the SDPI.