THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after the arrest of three people, including a woman and her son, for murdering an elderly woman and stealing her ornaments at Mulloor here, the Vizhinjam police claimed that the mother-son duo was also involved in the murder of a 14-year-old girl in 2020.
The police said the suspects - Rafeeqa Beevi (50) and her son, Shafeeq (23) - confessed to the crime during questioning and they killed the girl to prevent her from revealing that Shafeeq had sexually assaulted her.
The girl, a native of Muttakkadu, was found unconscious at her house on December 13, 2020, and she died on the way to the hospital. Rafeeqa said they were residing near the girl's house at that time. On the day of the incident, Rafeeqa and Shafeeq strangled the girl as they feared that she might tell the sexual assault incident to her parents. The girl fell unconscious and they hit her head with a hammer, the police said.
When the girl's parents reached the house and found her lying unconscious on the floor, they alerted the neighbours. Rafeeqa rushed to the spot and she accompanied the girl to the hospital in the ambulance to avoid suspicion.