KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Monday directed the CBI to submit the progress report of the investigation into the murder of Mithila Mohan within three months. The court issued the order on the petition filed by M Manesh, son of the deceased, alleging undue delay in CBI investigation.
The petitioner said the High Court handed over the case to the CBI on January 11, 2018. But it has not made any breakthrough despite investigating for more than one-and-half-years. CBI has not booked the culprits as they are highly influential people.
Manesh contended that delay would only help the accused escape from the clutches of law. The petitioner said the lapses in investigation by the CBI will result in public losing their faith in the country’s premier agency. He sought to fix a reasonable time frame to complete the probe. Mithila Mohan, an abkari contractor, was shot dead at his residence at Vennala by an unidentified person on April 5, 2006.
The Crime branch had arrested first accused Santhosh Kumar and found that he had hired goons to murder Mohan due to the business rivalry. According to the police, Santhosh had stated that he had hatched a criminal conspiracy with Pandyan, second accused, for eliminating Mohan. The murder was executed by Mathivannan and Uppali.
The Crime Branch had submitted before the court that it strongly suspected that the two accused, who were yet to be traced, belonged to Sri Lanka. The Crime Branch said the accused Mathivanan had told Sathosh that he and Uppali belong to Vedaranyam Light House in Nagapatanam district.