Six people have been injured, five of them seriously, in separate incidents of violence involving RSS-BJP and CPI-M activists in Kodiyeri locality near the neighbouring Thalassery town, police said on Sunday.
A group of 30 Communist Party of India-Marxist activists allegedly attacked the residence of one Shijil, a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party sympathizer, and threw a steel bomb on the building late Saturday night at Kuttivayal as
Shijil and his brother fled from the house, they said.
The activists later barged into the house, smashed glass-panes and vandalised furniture and other household items before attacking Shijil's father Ramdas (55) and mother Usha (42) and brother Shigil (16), inflicting multiple injuries.
They were rushed to a Thalassery hospital from where they were shifted to the Kozhikode medical college early Sunday morning.
The activists also torched a brand new motorbike parked in the neighbouring house of an RSS activist. The building also came under attack from the rival political party activists, they said, adding a nearby house was also targeted and glass panes smashed.
In the second incident, which seemed to be retaliation to the previous one, a group of BJP-RSS workers targeted the house of a CPI-M Thalassery municipal councillor late Saturday night in the adjacent Kommal Vayal locality, police said.
The miscreants forced their way into the house, hurled a bomb on the building and attacked the councillor, Rajesh and his elder brother Ranjith. Rajesh's aunt, who was in the house also sustained injuries in the attack, they said.
The councillor and his brother sustained serious stab wounds on their hands and were admitted to a private hospital in Kozhikode.
Meanwhile, senior police officials, including the DSP Mathew Polycarp, visited the localities where a heavy posse of police has been deployed to prevent a flare up of violence in the nearby areas, they said, adding that the situation in the area was very much under control.
It may be recalled that Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala and opposition leader Oommen Chandy had led a four day 'shanti-yatra' (peace march) in the district from December 10 to campaign against the 'politics of violence' unleashed by CPI-M and rival BJP-RSS workers in the district, which the opposition party claimed had received an overwhelming response from the people.