AYUSH ANAND & VAIBHAV CHADHA
Victim’s name: KP Laxmanan (49) (BJP supporter)
Date of attack/death: March 16, 2006
Residence: Tanalur gram panchayat, K Puram, Tirur municipal town, Malappuram district, Kerala
Profession: Was running a welding shop in Othukkungal
Place of occurrence of the incident: Victim’s shop in Othukkungal
Family: Wife, Latha (49); son, Sudarshan (25); daughter Sulakshana (27)
During an interaction with our team, Latha, the victim’s wife, told us that the day this incident happened, his husband, KP Laxman, was just about to close his shop. It was around 6:15 in the evening when four armed men arrived on two scooters outside his shop. She said, “They took my husband inside and stabbed him with an axe. He died on the spot”. Soon after, police reached the site and took him to the hospital, but it was too late. The attackers belonged to the National Development Front (NDF). The names of the accused are: Hussain Koya, Fahad and Yahu. An FIR regarding this incident was lodged in PS Kottakkal, Malappuram the number for which is: 86/07. The accused were arrested and later released on bail.
This incident came as a shock for the entire family which was completely shattered as the bread earner of the family was no more. Sulakshana, the victim’s daughter, who was in the first year of her college, had to stop her education midway. However, she completed her graduation after some years. The victim’s son, Sudarshan, could just complete his schooling. After his father’s death, he joined his father’s business. Thereafter, he went to the gulf to earn A peaceful livelihood for his family. A large support for the family came at the hands of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) which gave a financial assistance of one lakh rupees.
When asked about the probable reason for KP Laxmanan’s death, his wife lamented that fundamentalist organisations like the NDF cannot see the rise of Hindu families in their area. Whenever any Hindu family does well, it comes in the eyes of fundamentalists like them. They create propaganda against such families. Moreover, members of the RSS are always in the hit list of such organisations.