KOCHI: A tiny bruise around the neck of a deceased person, noticed by the investigating officer, helped turn a case from the brink of being written off as death due to excessive alcohol consumption to homicide.
The case relates to the death of a native of Dindigul in Tamil Nadu at Kadavanthra in the city.
Sankar, 52, who was staying in a rented house at Muttathil lane near Kadavanthra, was found unconscious on Sunday, December 12, 2021. The construction worker was brought to the hospital by his wife and daughter, where the doctors declared him brought dead. But the case took a shocking turn on Tuesday when the police arrested his wife Selvi and 22-year-old daughter Ananda for allegedly strangling him.
The investigation officer, Anwar M, SHO of Kadavanthra, noticed a bruise around his neck, which became a clinching clue to the case. “Since I found a bruise mark and an old wound mark on his body, I suspected the possibility of murder. I shared my doubts with the police surgeon who performed the autopsy. During the procedure, it was found that the death was caused by strangling and not by excessive alcohol consumption as claimed by his wife and daughter,” said Anwar.
The police suspected that the mother-daughter duo strangled him using a shoelace. This was also confirmed after the autopsy report which came out on Tuesday. According to the police, the alleged murder took place on Sunday while Sankar was sleeping in an inebriated condition in their rented house. “With the help of Ananda, Selvi tied both his hands to the cot. After that, they strangled him to death using a shoelace. Since he was in an inebriated state, he couldn’t escape. It took nearly 15 minutes for them to kill him,” said a police officer.
However, Selvi tried to cover up the murder by saying that her husband collapsed after drinking alcohol and he was not responding. She also called her son, who is staying at Vyttila, to take Sankar to the hospital. “To make it look like a natural death, she rushed him to the hospital. She also said he died of extensive alcohol consumption,” the police officer said.
According to the police, domestic violence might have been the reason for the murder. “They were engaged in scuffles everyday. A month ago, the woman had tried to attack him with a knife. The wound mark was caused in that incident. Domestic violence might have resulted in such a heinous act,” said the officer, adding that the duo had been planning the crime for the last several days.
Meanwhile, the police produced the two before the court, which remanded them. The police are also investigating whether they had received help from any other person in the crime.