A member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was hacked to death in Kerala's Kannur district on Monday, The New Indian Express reported. The victim has been identified as 40-year-old Mohanan, who worked as a toddy shop cashier in Valankilchal.

Officials said five masked men barged into the store and assaulted Mohanan with sharp weapons. Mohanan was taken to the Thalassery cooperative hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. A postmortem examination will be conducted at the Pariyaram Medical College and Hospital. There was speculation that the murder was carried out by workers of the Bharatiya Janata Party, but there was no official confirmation on this.

There have been several reports of clashes between the two political parties after the Left Democratic Front government came to power following the Assembly elections in the state on May 16. On September 5, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker was hacked to death near Kerala's Iritty taluk in Kannur. A Communist Party of India (Marxist) worker and a Bharatiya Janata Party member were killed in the same district on July 12.