The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday told the Kerala High Court that it will investigate murders of workers of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The central government said it has no objection to this.

The High Court was hearing a petition filed by RK Prem Das on behalf of the Gopalan Adiyodi Vakeel Smaraka Trust, which had asked for an investigation into BJP and RSS workers’ deaths.

The High Court bench has directed the Kerala government to file a counter affidavit in the case by October 25. The case will be heard next on October 30, India Today reported.

The CBI’s reply comes on the last day of the BJP’s two-week-long Jan Raksha yatra, which was flagged off by party president Amit Shah on October 3 from Kannur. The BJP’s campaign is in protest against political violence that the party has claimed workers of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have unleashed. A number of BJP leaders, union ministers and BJP chief ministers, including Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath, have participated in the yatra at different stages.

Though official data on political killings across the state is not available publicly so far, police data obtained by 101reporters.com through a Right to Information request shows that in Kannur both the BJP-RSS and the CPI(M) have lost almost 30 workers each between 2000 and 2016.