KOLLAM: Gang war has rocked the district again as Athul aka Aluva Athul, a gang leader accused in a murder case, was hacked to death in what appears to be a revenge murder in broad daylight in Karunagappally on Saturday.
Athul was attacked near Puthiyakavu while he was returning from the police station on Saturday morning. He had gone to the police station to sign papers as required by the bail conditions in a murder case. Athul, aged around 30, is the prime accused in the Karunagappally Jim Santhosh murder case.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has arrested four in connection with the murder. “Five people have been identified as attackers and two of them have been arrested. Two more who helped them have been taken into custody.
A total of four have been arrested till now in the case. There will be more arrests. Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta police have together formed a SIT and are in search of them,” said a police officer.
The car in which Athul was travelling was rear-ended on the busy road near Puthiyakavu by an Innova car that was trailing it. The Innova hit Athul’s car forcing it into a pit built for the construction of the national highway before being attacked. The assailants who were travelling in the Innova, assaulted Athul with sharp weapons grievously injuring him.
Though he was taken to the hospital, his life could not be saved. The police have started an investigation into the incident and got clues regarding the attackers. Athul’s friend Manu was also attacked by the assailants and a murder case has been registered based on his complaint.
“Though we had information about the possibility of an attack on Athul, we could not give him protection as they normally won’t cooperate with us. We were monitoring the hotspots, but the attackers targeted the victim on the road,” an official said.
Athul, a history-sheeter, had 12 cases registered in his name. A gang of goons is suspected to be behind the attack, and the police have collected the CCTV footage of the attack.
Athul was earlier arrested by the Karunagappally police and a DANSAF team from a temple in Tiruvallur, Tamil Nadu. He was also accused in the case of assaulting a jail warden while he was lodged in jail.
Jim Santhosh murder
Jim Santhosh was killed in the early hours of March 27, 2025. A gang of six goons barged into his house in Karunagappally and murdered him. The brutal murder was committed in front of Santhosh’s mother. Aluva Athul is the first accused in the case. The gang carried out the murder following a ‘quotation’ given by Pankaj Menon, a native of Ochira.
Santhosh had earlier tried to kill Pankaj, and the enmity over this led to the act. Sanjay, who was arrested in the incident, was released a few days before the murder took place. After the murder of Santhosh, the police had recovered a homemade bomb from the house where the accused were hiding and later it was defused by the bomb squad.