Unidentified assailants hacked a Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh worker to death near Payyannur in Kannur on Friday. Choorakkad Biju was accused in the murder of a Communist Party of India (Marxist) worker, Dhanraj. He was also the RSS’ unit chief in Kakkampara.

According to the Kerala Police, the assailants were travelling in an Innova, reported CNN-News18. The incident took place around 3 pm. Biju was on his bike when the people in the car attacked him near a bridge at Palamkode, according to The News Minute. Biju, who was out on bail, was under police protection until last week.

The state unit of Bharatiya Janata Party has blamed CPM workers for the murder. The party has called for a strike in Kannur district on Saturday, according to Manorama.

The police suspect it was an act of revenge. “As of now we have no clue about who is behind the attack. But we believe that his political rivals may have murdered him,” the Payyannur police told The News Minute.

CPM worker Dhanraj was killed at his home in July last year. The assailants had attacked him with swords and killed him in front of his family members.

In March, a group of unidentified men had attacked the vice president of a BJP mandalam in Kerala. Sushil Kumar had been hospitalised in Kozhikode with multiple stab injuries. On February 12, a BJP worker had been hacked to death in Thrissur district. This came almost month after another BJP worker had been killed outside his home in Kannur district.

Kerala has had a spate of political murders ever since the Left Democratic Front government came to power in May 2016. Both the BJP and the CPI(M) have blamed each other for the violence.