Crime Branch officials, investigating the murder of liquor contractor V A Mohanan alias Mithila Mohan, have traced three fake bank accounts of Santhosh Kumar (47) alias Kannan who was arraigned as the first accused in the case. The Crime Branch also found that Rs 7 lakhs were withdrawn from the bank account of Santhosh’s sister, a day before the murder of Mithila Mohan.
According to Crime Branch sources, Santhosh Kumar had submitted that he had no property in his name when he was first arrested. “During our investigation we traced three bank accounts created after changing the initials of Santhosh’s name in banks based in Thrissur. Two accounts were created in nationalised banks and one in a local bank. Over the years, transactions amounting to Rs 86 lakhs have taken place from his account with a nationalised bank. Transactions amounting to about Rs 90 lakhs have taken place from the other accounts. We suspect that he has also purchased gold and stocked it in bank lockers,” police officials said.
In another breakthrough, Crime Branch have identified two sharp shooters who were involved in the murder of Mithila Mohan. However, the investigative agency did not want to reveal their names, as that may affect investigation procedures.
“During the interrogation of Mohan Raj at the Madurai Central Jail, he confessed that only four persons in the gang of Dindigul Pandian knew how to operate pistols. Out of this, Mohan Raj was not involved in the murder and Dindigul Pandian got killed in an encounter. The other two had joined Pandian’s gang when Mohan Raj was incarcerated for a murder case. These two are suspected to have murdered Mithila Mohan,” source said. Crime Branch officials, with the assistance of Kerala police, are trying to trace these gangsters.
Crime Branch have also found that an amount of Rs 7 lakhs was withdrawn from the account of Santhosh, a day before Mithila Mohan was murdered.
“The amount was withdrawn from a nationalised bank. We suspect that the money was used to pay ransom. The shooters had demanded Rs 20 lakhs first, but later they settled for Rs 10 lakhs,” officials said.
Mithila Mohan, a watch mechanic who rose to become a major liquor baron, was shot dead by unidentified persons at point blank range on 5 April, 2006. Crime Branch had arrested Santhosh Kumar, who was a partner of Mithila Mohan, for arranging the assistance of the shooters with the help of Dindigul Pandian, a dreaded gangster. Pandian was shot dead in a police encounter a few years ago. Although Santhosh had identified the two shooters as Mathivanan and Uppali, Crime Branch had found these to be fictitious.
This past month, the Crime Branch had interrogated another sniper, who was part of the Dindigul Pandian gang, at the Madurai Central Jail.