KOTTAYAM: The trial room at the Principal Sessions Court, Kottayam, on Thursday witnessed dramatic scenes while the prosecution examined Neenu Chacko, one of the key witnesses in the case registered in connection with the abduction and murder of Kevin P Joseph. Neenu, the fiancée of Kevin, couldn’t control her emotions during the trial and broke down in the courtroom.
Neenu made significant deposition before the principal sessions judge C Jayachandran that her parents and relatives had threatened not to let her live with Kevin, as the latter belonged to a lower cast, which is expected to support the prosecution’s argument that Kevin’s murder was a case of honour killing. Neenu alleged her brother Syanu Chacko and father Chacko John were behind the murder of Kevin.
Neenu said she and Kevin had received threats from Chacko and her cousin Niyas. While describing the scenes at Gandhinagar police station, a day before Kevin was abducted, Neenu said her relatives had made forceful attempts to take her back home. The then Gandhinagar station house officer M S Shibu insisted her to go with her father. When she resisted, Shibu asked her to give a statement in writing that she was going on her own wish.
The SHO also pushed Kevin by his neck in anger during the mediation. Chacko and Niyas threatened Neenu would not be permitted to live with a man from a lower caste at any cost.