THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The city shadow police have cracked a mystery behind a murder that allegedly took place in Thiruvananthapuram six months ago. A 22-year-old man identified as Aakash alias Kochumon of Kadinamkulam on the city outskirts, who was accused in a robbery case, was strangulated to death allegedly by his friends following a dispute over distribution of booty near Valiyathura on the night of March 30.
According to city police commissioner P Prakash, four people, including two women, had conspired and committed the crime. Among the accused, Reshma, 27, of Swagath Nagar, Manakkad, and Alphonsa of Valiyathura, mother-in-law of Reshma, were under the custody of the police, while Anu Aju, 27, husband of Reshma, and his friend Jithin alias Jithu, 22, of Mandakkad house are absconding.
The incident came to the attention of the police when a burnt body was found by locals in the limit of Anjugramam police station in Tamil Nadu on April 1. The Tamil Nadu police have registered a case for unnatural death and started an investigation into the incident.
In the meantime, the Kerala police had located the identity of the victim and an investigation based on the victim’s connections shed light on the gruesome murder, he said.
Anu Aju and Aaksh who had been engaged of bike robbery had a dispute over sharing the money accrued from the illegal business.
Following this, Aaksh had threatened Aju with dire consequences if he refused to give his share of money and even warned he would tip off the police.
Later, Reshma called Aakash from her mobile and asked him to come to the bike workshop of Aju in Valiyathura.
Later he was given alcohol laced with a drug and when he dozed off, Aju and his friend Jithu strangulated Aakash to death using Reshma’s shawl.
After the crime, Aju and Reshma together travelled up to Kollam with the mobile phone of Aakash and put a status message on the Facebook account of Aakash indicating he was travelling to Pathanamthitta from Kollam with the aim of misleading the police and others.
Later, they came back to the crime scene by night and took a Scorpio on rent to transport the body to Tamil Nadu. During this time, Alphonsa was aiding the crime by keeping the body at the workshop.
The duo who took the body to Tamil Nadu offloaded the corpse at an isolated place near Suchindram and doused the body with petrol and set it ablaze.
After the crime, the accused was leading a peaceful life as usual, said the police. DCP R Adhitya, Control room AC V Sureshkumar, Shangumugam AC Shani Khan, Valiyathura A Bijoy, Shadow SI Sunil Lal, Arun Kumar, Yashodharan and the Shadow police team members led the investigation.