An SFI leader was stabbed to death and two others were injured in an attack allegedly by members of a pro-Islamic outfit at a college here, police said on Monday.

They were attacked allegedly by workers of the Campus Front and its parent outfit Popular Front of India (PFI) inside the Maharaja’s College, Ernakulam, campus last night, they said.

The condition of one of the injured students is said to be serious.

Three workers of the PFI and the Campus Front have been taken into custody in connection with the killing of Abhimanyu (20), police said.

In a Facebook post, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said police have been directed to take strong action against those involved in the crime.

Condemning the incident, the chief minister said it was a “planned murder.”

CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan also echoed similar views.

Preliminary investigation by police suggests that people from outside the campus with extremist background led the attack, Vijayan said.

He urged all secular forces to rally against extremism.

The chief minister also said government would not tolerate any move to disturb the peaceful atmosphere prevailing in campuses across the state.

Police suspect that at least 20 people, mostly from outside the campus, were involved in the attack.

Balakrishnan alleged that workers of SDPI, a political outfit attached to the PFI, were part of those who attacked the SFI workers.

He alleged that communal forces functioning at different levels in colleges were trying to create violence in campuses.

Rejecting the charges, SDPI said Campus Front was not affiliated to it.

Education Minister C Raveendranath said the attack took place without any provocation and steps would be taken to ensure that no such incidents happen in the campus in future.

The Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the CPI(M), staged protest marches in various towns after observing a shutdown of educational institutions across the state against the killing.

The SFI leader, a second-year degree student at the college, was a resident of Vattavada in Idukki district and also a member of the organisation’s Idukki district committee.

Hundreds of students, teachers, public and political leaders including state ministers paid their last respects when the body was brought to the Maharaja’s College after autopsy at the General Hospital here.

His body was later taken to his village in Idukki district.

Police suspect that issues between student activists over using college walls led to the attack.

CPI(M) state secretariat member and former Rajya Sabha MP P Rajeev condemned the attack on the SFI workers and described it as a “planned” one carried out by forces with “extremist nature.”

“We have not heard about such a heinous attack on student activists in recent times.

All the progressive forces should come forward to fight against such outfits with extremist nature,” said Rajeev, a former state leader of the SFI from Ernakulam district.