The two back-to-back murders of an RSS and a PFI leader in the last couple of days in the district were part of a pre-planned conspiracy, police said on Sunday.

ADGP (Law and Order) Vijay Sakhare, who reached Palakkad after the murder of RSS leader S K Srinivasan (45), told reporters here that "there is a conspiracy behind both murders. We will find out who is behind it. The killers were only foot soldiers." He also refuted the allegations that the police failed to prevent the RSS leader's murder, on Saturday, despite there being a possibility of retaliation after the killing of Popular Front of India (PFI) leader Subair (43) on Friday.

Sakhare said it was "very very difficult" to prevent a planned murder and both the killings were 'well planned.' Speaking to PTI, the senior police officer said it cannot be said whether the killings, especially that of the PFI leader, were politically motivated, but the murder of the RSS leader is believed to be a retaliatory killing.

He further said that while no one has been arrested in connection with the two cases, several suspects were in custody of the police, who were questioning them, and based on the outcome of the interrogations, arrests would be made.

He also said that two Special Investigation Teams (SITs) have been constituted to probe the murders and the police has some good clues and leads in the cases. Several schemes and plans have been formulated to prevent any further such incidents in the district and these would be implemented during the day, he added.

Srinivasan, a former district leader and office-bearer of RSS, was attacked by a six-member gang at his motorbike shop in Melamuri near here on Saturday, barely 24 hours after Subair was hacked to death at Elappully in the district while he was returning home along with his father after offering prayers in a mosque on Friday afternoon.

A local RSS leader, Sanjith, was murdered in the same area, as was Subair, five months ago allegedly by SDPI workers. PFI, on Friday, had alleged that Subair was murdered by RSS workers.

The back-to-back killings involving BJP/RSS and SDPI/PFI is the second such incident in the past few months in Kerala. In December last year in Alappuzha, a leader of SDPI and a leader of BJP were murdered within 24 hours.