THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two brothers, who are accused in the Amboori murder case, landed in police custody on Saturday. The first accused, Akhil S Nair, was held when he arrived at Thiruvananthapuram airport from Delhi in the evening.
He was taken to Neyyattinkara DySP office for interrogation. Akhil’s brother and second accused Rahul, was arrested in the morning. He confessed that he and his brother strangled the victim Rakhimol to death after taking her from Neyyattinkara bus stand to Amboori. They are likely to be taken to Amboori for evidence collection on Sunday.
Rakhimol’s body was exhumed from the site where her lover Akhil, who works in the Army, is building a house. Akhil’s friend and third accused Adarsh was nabbed by the police earlier.
According to the police, Rahul confessed that the murder was pre-planned. The brothers were angry over Rakhimol’s attempts to foil Akhil’s plan to marry another woman.
Police have also seized the car used by Akhil to take Rakhimol to the site. The car is owned by his friend, who is also in the military. “The victim was on the back seat. When the car reached the site, Rahul entered the vehicle and strangled her. Akhil kept reviving the engine to drown her cries,” said Poovar CI S Sajeevan.
Rahul stopped only when she became still. However, when they noticed a slight movement, they strangulated her with a rope. After disrobing the body, they buried it in a four-feet-deep pit which was dug a few days before.
Meanwhile, some local residents alleged that Maniyan, father of the duo, too had a role in the conspiracy. They told the media that he was involved in digging the pit. He is reported to have told some neighbours that the pit was dug for planting a tree. The police are yet to confirm this. An investigating officer said Maniyan was under the scanner for discrepancies in his statements.
The victim’s father Rajan too raised suspicion over the role of the brothers’ parents in the conspiracy. Police said they were able to make a breakthrough in the probe after analysing an SMS received by Rakhimol’s parents from her mobile number.
After the murder, Akhil inserted her SIM card in a new phone and sent a message to her parents to convince them that she was alive. But the police found out that the IMEI number was not of her original phone, but of a new handset. A probe in this regard helped to zero in on Akhil.
An odious act