The Crime Branch probing the Mithila Mohan murder case on Monday submitted before the Kerala High Court that two teams headed by an officer are now in Chennai and Dindigul to trace down the remaining two accused persons and to seize the weapon used for the crime.
Crime Branch Hurt and Homicide Wing SP K G Simon filed the statement on a petition by Manesh, son of the deceased, seeking CBI inquiry into the case.
The weapon used by the accused to kill Mohan was a 0.32-calibre revolver. “As the assailants belong to Tamil Nadu and were involved in many murder cases, a request was sent to the Director, Forensic Science Laboratory, Chennai, to examine the 0.32 revolvers which were given licenses after April 2006. The ADGP (Crime), who is the supervising officer of the case, sent a letter to the ADGP (Prisons), Tamil Nadu, to ascertain the involvement of two sharpshooters and prominent gang members of Dindigul Pandian in the case, the CB submitted before the court.
The team had arrested Santhosh Kumar alias Kannan from Thrissur. Third accused Mathilavan and fourth accused Uppali are yet to be located and the weapon used in the murder also has to be seized. The vehicle used by the accused is also to be traced, hence some more time would be needed, the CB submitted. The CB had ascertained the bank accounts and lockers possessed by Santhosh Kumar in three banks. The accused had deposited huge sums of money in the banks. The source of these deposits needs to be ascertained, the Crime Branch said. It was revealed that Rs 7 lakh had been withdrawn on the day of the murder, from the bank account, in the name of Santhosh Kumar’s sister. The accused had given Rs 10 lakh to the quotation gang of Pandiyan after the murder, the CB said.
It further submitted that Santhosh Kumar was involved in so many cases, including abkari, theft and cheating cases, and the details of these had to be unearthed. Some information on these cases was collected from Kunnamkulam and Thrissur East police stations. It also said that the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court had given permission to record the statements of five witnesses in the case and only three of them were recorded so far.