The two Youth Congress activists - Krupesh, 19, and Joshy, 24 - were attacked by three assailants who came on motorcycles and seriously injured. While Krupesh breathed his last at the Kasargode district hospital, Joshy died while being taken to a hospital in Mangaluru in neighbouring Karnataka.

The Kasargode unit of the Congress has called for a dawn-to-dusk shutdown in the district on Monday to protest the murder.

Addressing the media at Kochi after hearing about the incident, Ramachandran said that this murder was a planned one executed by the goons attached to the CPI-M.

"Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan who also holds the Home portfolio should explain this ghastly incident. This is not acceptable to the Kerala society... its high time that the CPI-M directs its cadres to lay down arms," he said.

Kasargode district Congress president K. Hakkim told the media that the incident occurred near Periya near here.

"This is a Kannur model murder that was neatly planned and executed in the dark," he alleged.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala told the media that the CPI-M is using power to eliminate its political opponents and this will be strongly opposed by the Congress.

But Kannur district CPI-M secretary M.V. Balakrishnan told the media that his party has no role in this incident.

"We strongly condemn this incident and our party has no role in this. We want the police to quickly arrest the people behind this," he said.