NIA chargesheets main assailant in RSS leader’s brutal killing in Kerala

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday charge sheeted the main assailant in the brutal killing of RSS leader Sreenivasan in Kerala’s Palakkad, officials said.

Shamnad EK alias Shamnad Ellikkal has been charged under various sections of Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the supplementary chargesheet filed before an NIA special court in Ernakulam, Kerala.

The absconding accused was arrested in April after a three-year hunt by NIA, which continued to search for the remaining absconders in the case.

Armed cadres of the banned Popular Front of India (PFI) brutally killed Sreenivasan, a senior RSS leader, in Palakkad in 2022.

The killing was part of the PFI’s conspiracy to unleash terror with the nefarious agenda of establishing Islamic rule in India by 2047, a statement issued by NIA said.

A total of 71 accused have so far been identified in the case, it said.

Shamnad, the 65th accused to be charge sheeted in the case, carried a reward of Rs 7 lakh when he was evading arrest, the probe agency said.

He is a trained cadre of the banned PFI and a member of its ‘Service Wing’ responsible for carrying out terrorist acts, according to the NIA investigation.

In the run-up to the murder of Sreenivasan, the accused had undergone arms and physical training at various PFI centres in Malappuram district, including the Malabar House at Randathani, Green Valley at Manjeri and PFI office at Achipilakkal, the NIA probe revealed.