Kasaragod : A 24-year-old RSS activist was brutally hacked to death by a group of men in Kannur district on Friday.

A group of masked men, who came in a black car, attacked Shyam Prasad with sharp weapons.

Sources say Shyam Prasad ran to a nearby house to take refuge, but the attackers ambushed him outside and hacked him right on the spot. He died as locals were rushing him to a hospital.

Top district police sources say, “We are probing this as a case of suspected political violence. However, it is too early to establish the motive of the attackers.”

In December, two CPM activists were attacked brutally and hospitalised in two separate instances of political violence in Thiruvananthapuram and Kannur, within a span on 12 hours.

Kannur in north Kerala has a history of political violence between the workers of the CPM and BJP and its ideological parent RSS. At least 45 CPM activists and 44 BJP activists have been killed in the district since 2000, due to the political rivalry of the two parties.

Kerala politics has been dominated by the Left and the Congress, with coalitions led by the two ruling the state by turns. The BJP and RSS are attempting to build their cadre in the state, with the BJP hoping to change its status of marginal player by the 2019 general elections. In state elections last year, won by the CPM-led LDF, the BJP had won a seat for the first time ever.