The memorial of U.K Kunhiraman, a CPI(M) activist, who was killed while guarding a mosque during the Thalassery riots, was vandalised late on Tuesday night
| Photo Credit: special arrangement
The memorial of U.K Kunhiraman, a CPI(M) activist who was killed while guarding a mosque during the Thalassery riots, was vandalised late on Tuesday night. The incident occurred around midnight at Neerveli, in the Koothuparamba police limits in Kannur, Kerala.
The memorial was desecrated by pouring black oil over it, and a nearby flagpole was uprooted. The site, located in Neerveli, an area considered a CPI(M) stronghold, holds political and historical significance in Kannur.
The Koothuparamba police registered a case against five RSS workers, including Sreyas Raj, Roji, Pramod, Mahesh and Raju, under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 189(2), 191(2), 191(2), 329(3), 324(4) and 190.
U.K. Kunhiraman was a member of the CPI(M) Mangattidam local committee and is remembered by the party as a martyr who was killed by RSS workers on January 4, 1972, while guarding the Meruvambayi mosque during the Thalassery riots. However, rival political groups, including the RSS and some Congress leaders, contest this version, claiming that Kunhiraman was killed in a brawl at a toddy shop days after the riots ended, an incident not recorded among the riot-related cases.
The Thalassery riots, which broke out in December 1971, polarised the Malabar region and intensified political rivalry between the CPI(M) and the RSS. The story of Kunhiraman’s death remains a recurring theme in Kannur’s political discourse.
Published – October 08, 2025 11:49 am IST
