KOCHI: The mystery behind the murder of Paul Muthoot George, scion of one of India’s biggest financial companies, on August 21, 2009, has been solved on August 31 with the sentencing of the accused.
The case involved a rich and flamboyant victim, his cronies who fled from the murder scene and gangsters who decided to deliver their own form of justice. Paul, who was hacked to death in Kerala's Alapuzha, was the 32-year-old son of the multi-crore Muthoot M George Group chairman M G George. Paul was the executive director of the group and was heading its hospitality sector with varied interests in tourism and resorts at various places in Kerala.
The Kerala Police cracked the case within 24 hours and they found that a myterious woman, Vilasini, and her son Satheesh Kumar who had a criminal background, were involved in it.
According to Inspector General (IG) Vinson M Paul who was heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT), the SUV driven by Paul knocked down a two-wheeler at Pallathuruthy around 2.5 km from the murder spot and he drove away without stopping. As many as 22 gangsters from Changanassery who were on their way to Alappuzha for some ‘quotation’ work were at the accident spot, fixing a problem in one of their vehicles. Some of them chased Paul’s vehicle and intercepted it when he stopped to check the radiator of his SUV. A scuffle took place between Paul and the gangsters, during which he was stabbed from behind. However, the goons fled when they saw an approaching vehicle driven by Paul’s driver Shibu.
However the ‘real’ motive behind the murder remained a puzzle to many even after the local police and the CBI arrived at the same conclusion that it was the result of a freak road rage.
There was a controversy regarding a S-shaped knife for which even the police were under the scanner after a news channel aired an investigation report which said a certain circle inspector approached a blacksmith in Alappuzha to make an ‘S’ shaped knife after the IG told media that the murderer had used such a knife. The case was then handed over to the CBI by the Kerala High Court. While the police chargesheet had stated that a ‘S’ shaped knife had been used to stab Paul, the CBI charge sheet said another knife was used to stab the victim which was recovered from Manancherry at Alappuzha. Twenty eight persons were accused by the CBI in its charge-sheets.
A CBI special court on August 31 sentenced nine accused—Jayachandran, Satheesh, Sathar, Sujith, Akash Sasidharan, Satheesh Kumar, Rajeev Kumar, Shino Paul and Faisal—to life imprisonment and four others to rigorous imprisonment of three years each.
However, Paul’s murder had exposed the nexus between the worlds of business and crime. Omprakash and Puthenpalam Rajesh, who were wanted under the Goonda Act, were accompanying Paul at the time of the incident. It was learnt that Omprakash, who was in a hideout in Tamil Nadu, had gone to Kochi to meet Paul as wanted by the latter. Paul was suspected to have been using the services of the two for certain shady business dealings.
The tycoon, a bachelor, who had been living in Delhi for many years, had also figured in a Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances case. A person identified as Fazal Khan, who was held by the Delhi police with 125 gm for heroin, had confessed before the police that he used to supply the heroin to Paul. But Paul was later acquitted by a Delhi court in the case citing that the prosecution could not prove his involvement in the case.