ALAPPUZHA: Is Sebastian C M (65), Chengumthara house, Pallippuram, Cherthala, a serial killer? Did he kill women for money and over other motives? The crime branch team suspects that he had killed four women in the past two decades.
Bindhu Padmanabhan, 46, of Kadakarapilly, Cherthala; Jane Mathew (Jainamma), 48, Athirampuzha, Kottayam; Ayisha, 56, Varanad, Cherthala; and Sindhu, 43, Vallakunnathu, Cherthala South Panchayat in Cherthala are missing, and the investigators are on a task to ascertain the role of Sebastian, the prime suspect.
When the investigators probed the truth behind the missing, Sebastian is found to be a cool man, accompanying the investigators just misleading and giving false statements.
The mysterious missing case ended up with Sebastian after the Kottayam Crime Branch(CB) wing started an investigation into the disappearance of Jainamma in February this year.
Husband and brother of Jainamma approached the High Court and gained an order to investigate the case. When the local police started the missing case and later handed it over to the CB, they connected the link with Sebastian, who had already been under the scanner of the Alappuzha CB over the disappearance of Bindhu.
The call records of Sebastian and Jainamma made the lead into the investigation. They identified the tower location of Jainamma at the time of the missing at Pallippuram. It was the same tower location of Sebastian was in.
In the detailed investigation over their phone calls, they found that Sebastian and Jainamma had connections.
Finally, the team discovered burned body parts of a woman from the Sebastian's residence on July 28, shedding light on the mysterious disappearances.
When the police planned to conduct a DNA comparison with the test of the body parts and Jainamma’s relatives, the story of missing persons unravelled.
Ayesha had been missing since 2012 from Varanad and she had connections with Sebastian. She had connections with Sebastian, too, for purchasing land to construct a house. She also owned gold ornaments and cash, only to disappear in a fine morning.
Another woman, Sindhu, went missing on October 19, 2020. She left home after saying that she was going to the temple, but she never returned home.
The Crime Branch Alappuzha is also investigating the disappearance of Bindhu, who went missing in the 2010-2013 period.
The Pattanakkad police started a probe based on a complaint filed by Bindhu’s brother, Praveen Padmanabha Pillai of Padmanivas, Alumkal Junction, Kadakkarappally, in September 2017.
He was settled in Italy for many years. The case was initially investigated by local police and later handed over to the CB. As per the complaint of Praveen, his 46-year-old (in 2017) spinster sister, who owned assets worth crores of rupees, had gone missing under mysterious circumstances in August 2013.
According to him, a few real estate brokers, including Sebastian, and Jaya alias Mini, a native of Karuppamkulangara near Cherthala, had taken possession of her assets after forging documents.
Bindhu stayed alone at her home, Padma Nivas, after the death of her parents.
She sold ancestral properties worth crores of rupees that she had received from her parents. Bindhu had also owned land at Edapally in Ernakulam. Later, it was sold, but the documents used to sell the property were found forged.
For the preparation of the land documents, a driving license, SSLC book, and the power of attorney of Bindhu were produced in the registrar’s office, but all the documents were fake.
Praveen had collected the details of the land dealings from the Edapally sub-registrar office, which led to the mysterious missing case.
Later, Sebastian, a real estate broker as pertaining to this case, was arrested by the local police. He told the police that he had created fake documents in the name of Bindhu. T Mini, alias Jaya, the second accused in the case, had surrendered before the court.
She had confessed to the police that she had signed documents pretending as Bindhu for selling the properties.
Though the local police questioned Sebastian and Jaya, they did not get any clue about Bindhu.
The mystery behind the disappearance of Bindhu deepened with the suicide of S Manoj, 46, Thaikkoottathil house, Pallipuram, an auto driver, who was a close friend of Sebastian and Bindhu. Manoj was found hanging in his house on June 28, 2018, when the police directed him to appear for questioning.
In the initial stage, the local police looked at the case as a land dispute, and later it developed into a mysterious missing case.
Praveen Padmanabhan, Bindhu's brother, told TNIE over the phone from Italy, that the failure of the police led to the murders of innocent women, including my sister.
"In 2017, I inquired about my sister; she was in our native place at the time. When all it started, nobody had an exact answer, as we had not been in good relations. When I was in our native place , a real estate broker from Kochi, reached my village and inquired about my sister. Information regarding a property in Edapally being sold after forging documents came to light, and it led to my investigation into the case," he said.
"Later, I found that all documents utlised to sell the property owned by my sister were forged and Sebastian was the mastermind behind it. I presented all documents to prove it. But the Pattanakkad police were not ready to investigate the case. Later, I submitted a petition to the Chief Minister and the state police chief, then the police started an inquiry into the case."
"Local police tried to make it look like a dispute between my sister and me, and they tried to close the case. Later, CB took over the case, but they did not examine all the facts behind the missing pf my sister. So I deeply suspect that dark hands in the police behind the missing, they are helping Sebastian to commit the crime!,” Praveen said.
“When I contacted Sebastian in 2017, he said that my sister was alive. He told me that she will come the next day. He also presented an auto driver in front of me. He told me that he brought her to Sebastian's house, and that she gave Rs 500 as auto fare. Sebastian is behind the murders. He has courtiers to execute the murders. The auto driver is one such a courtier, But, the police were not ready to examine his accomplices,” Praveen said.
“After the sale of my sister's land in Edapally for Rs 1.5 crore, Sebastian deposited around Rs 50 lakh in the account of his wife in a cooperative bank in Kottayam. But the police did not investigate the source of income. If the police had examined the leads I pointed to, the case could have been unravelled easily then,” Praveen said.