An RSS leader residing in Punjab succumbed to bullet injuries after he was shot at by unidentified assailants in Ludhiana on Tuesday morning.
The deceased RSS leader has been identified as Ravinder Gosai (58). Gosai was just a few yards away from his house in the morning at around 7.20 am when bullets were pumped into his body. He was hit in the neck and the back. He died on the spot.
The motorcycle-borne suspects fled immediately. Ravinder Gosai was head of a local Shakha (branch) of the RSS in Ludhiana. He held a senior post at the local RSS branch.
Gosai was also an office-bearer of the Ludhiana BJP. In February 2016, assailants had opened fire at another RSS leader, Naresh Kumar, who escaped the attack.
Police are examining CCTV footage that purportedly show the two accused who killed Gosai.
CBI responds
The CBI on Tuesday told the Kerala High Court that it had “no objection” to take over the investigation into the murders of BJP-RSS activists in the state.
The agency’s submission came while the court was hearing a writ petition filed by R K Premdas, secretary of the Kannur-based Gopalan Adiyodi Vakkeel Smaraka Trust.
The petitioner has sought a CBI probe into the murder of eight BJP-RSS workers, all committed after the CPM-led government assumed office in May 2016.
The central agency’s stand is in contrast with its generally non-committal position on taking over cases of political murders.
The petitioner pointed out that eight BJP-RSS activists were killed in seven incidents between October 16, 2016, and July 29, 2017.
Four of these cases were registered in Kannur and one each in Palakkad, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram. The state government submitted that the police are investigating the cases.
The high court sought to know reasons for repeated murders being reported in Kannur. It directed the state government to file a response to the petition.
The government is likely to submit a report detailing the ongoing probe into the cases on October 26. The petition is set to come up for hearing on October 30.
Premdas said a CBI investigation was imperative since the state police was derailing probe in the cases.
“The state police can’t do a fair probe with a CPM-led government in office. The CBI has to step in because an attempt is also being made to show these killings as results of family disputes,” Premdas told DH.
The cases Premdas referred to in his petition pertains to the killings of Remith, Santhosh Kumar, C K Ramachandran and Biju (all Kannur), Vimala and Radhakrishnan (Palakkad), Raveendran Pillai (Kollam) and Rajesh (Thiruvananthapuram).
The state BJP leadership has repeatedly sought a CBI probe into what it alleged as unprovoked killings executed by the CPM.
The CBI stand is likely to fuel an ongoing war of words between leaders of the CPM and BJP.
