KOTTAYAM: The postmortem examination findings and circumstantial evidence indicate that the death of a woman lottery vendor, whose decomposed body was found on the Medical College Hospital premises here, is a case of murder, police said on Sunday.
According to the autopsy findings, the victim, Ponnamma, 55, of Padinjareparambil house, Thrikkodithanam, died because of a severe head injury suffered possibly after she was hit with a blunt object or a stone. Her skull was fractured. The circumstantial evidence does not suggest any chance of her falling.
Ponnamma, a lottery ticket vendor at Gandhinagar, was found dead in bushes behind the cancer ward of MCH around noon on Saturday.
Police questioned a middle-aged man, with whom the victim had lived in his house till a couple of months ago.
Though he denied any involvement in the incident, police got evidence of financial dealings between them and that they were engaged in a scuffle recently.
Police have asked him to turn up for further interrogation on Monday.
Meanwhile, Ponnamma’s daughter, Sandhya, complained that some of the ornaments had been missing from the body.
Sandhya told the police that Ponnamma used to keep some money, which she got from selling lottery tickets. But the police could not verify this as establishments giving loans against gold mortgage here were closed on Sunday. A DNA test will be conducted to confirm the victim’s identity.
“The investigation is progressing and we hope to get clear evidence in a couple of days,” said Kottayam SP P S Sabu.
Autopsy findings
The victim, Ponnamma, died because of a severe head injury suffered possibly after she was hit with a blunt object or a stone
‘Ornaments missing’
Ponnamma’s daughter, Sandhya, told the police some of the gold ornaments were missing from her body.