THALASSERY: There was an earlier attempt to kill Haridasan, the CPM activist murdered. The murder was planned a week ago. The investigation team said this was confessed by K V Vimin of K V House in Punnol, the second accused in the case.

It was planned by a team led by Nijin Das, who is now in police custody. They planned to kill Haridasan on February 14 at 10 pm. However, due to many reasons they were not able to commit the crime.

Haridas, a fisherman, was murdered last Sunday morning. He was attacked in front of his house when he was returning from work. The arrested are BJP constituency president and Thalassery municipal councillor K Lijesh (40) of Sankaranelloor in Kommal, K V Vimin (26) of Punnol K V House, Amal Manoharan (27) of Punnol Devikripa and Sunesh (28) of Gopala Pettah.

Police said Lijesh was the mastermind behind the murder. The investigators suspect that the quotation team was led by Atmajan. The killers came in two bikes.

There was a fight between the BJP and the CPM activists in connection with a temple festival held at the Koloth Temple on February 5. Haridas' brother Surendran had sustained injuries in the clash. A case was registered against five BJP activists. They threatened Haridas believing that he was behind the act.