THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Police have sought court permission to conduct a polygraph test of child‘s mother Sreethu and her brother Harikumar in the case related to the death of two and a half year old Devendu. This comes after Harikumar, the accused who is in jail, gave a statement to Rural SP K S Sudarsan claiming that Sreethu had killed the child.
Earlier, Devendu’s father Sreejith had also expressed suspicion about Sreethu’s role. However, she was not arrested at the time due to lack of evidence. Later, she was booked in a separate financial fraud case and is currently in jail.
Police were preparing to file the chargesheet this month, but have now put it on hold following Harikumar‘s statement. A detailed investigation will be carried out, including the polygraph tests.
The toddler was allegedly thrown into a well near the family’s rented house at Kottukalkonam in Balaramapuram by Harikumar (24) in January.
The child was reported missing initially, and her body was found in the well by police and fire officials. The postmortem confirmed drowning as the cause of death, with no other injuries found.
Harikumar confessed during questioning but did not give a clear reason for the act. Police suspect a family dispute may have led to the crime. Contradictions in statements by Harikumar, Sreethu, and their mother Sreekala raised further doubts. Deleted chat messages between Harikumar and Sreethu have added to the suspicion.
Devendu was the daughter of Sreethu and Sreejith, who are living separately. Sreejith had visited the house two days before the incident for a family ritual following the death of Sreethu’s father.