KOCHI: In a shocking incident, a 32-year-old autorickshaw driver was allegedly beaten to death by his six friends, including a policeman, at Peeliyadu near Edappally in the city over a financial dispute around Monday midnight. The deceased is Krishnakumar, aka Kannan, of Cheranalloor. Kochi police under Assistant Commissioner K Laljy arrested five of his friends from their hideout on Tuesday. Faisalmon, 39, of Nettoor Old Juma Masjid area; Ansal, 26, and Ubaid, 25, both from Muppathadam; Subeesh, 38, of Vadakkedath at Kunnumpuram; Faisal, 40, of Cheranalloor; and policeman Bejoy, 35, also from Cheranalloor are the accused.
According to the police, the murder took place on the bank of the Peeliyadu river. The police also recovered an iron rod from the spot which was used to kill the victim. “The victim and the accused were friends. Krishnakumar and main accused Faisal had a financial dispute. Krishnakumar had been pestering Faisal for Rs 50,000 he had lent the latter after arranging it from one of his friends. Krishnakumar used to threaten Faisal over the phone to get the money back. Faisal and the others asked Krishnakumar to reach the Peeliyadu riverside to discuss the issue.
They ended up killing Krishnakumar,” said Laljy. Though the police claim that the dispute over the money resulted in the murder, it is learnt that the accused assaulted the victim for pledging the ornaments of a woman. “The woman and the victim were friends. He pledged her ornaments at a bank and took a loan. But Faisal and Bejoy threatened him to return the gold,” said another police officer. The murder came to light when local residents heard noises of the scuffle on the river bank and informed the police.
“Though we got some information from the locals, they couldn’t identify the people involved in the murder. But when we interrogated Krishnakumar’s mother, we came to know that Faisal had made a call to her number in the evening. This helped us reach the prime accused. After questioning him, we came to know the involvement of others. It took less than 20 hours to solve the mystery,” said Laljy. Meanwhile, the police have initiated proceedings to dismiss Bejoy from service. City Police Commissioner C Nagaraju told TNIE that a department- level inquiry has been ordered against Bejoy. “He was suspended three times for coming to work drunk,” he added.
Never thought caller will turn my son’s killer: Mother
Sudha Sasidharan, Krishnakumar’s mother, never thought that the chain of incidents, which began with a call to her son’s mobile from one of his friends, would culminate in such a tragedy. Her attempts to stop her son from going out with his friends at midnight proved to be in vain.
“Since Krishnakumar’s phone was switched off, Faisal made several calls to my number. He asked me to hand over the phone to him to discuss some urgent matters. Since I was at my workplace, I told him that I will ask him to call back on reaching home. It was around 10.30. Krishnakumar reached home and put his mobile on charging mode. At the same time, Faisal again called and asked him to reach a particular place. I disconnected his phone from the charging point to prevent him from going out with his friends. I never thought it would be his last journey,” said a sobbing Sudha.
She said Krishna Kumar also had dinner with her. “I could hear that my son was arguing with his friends over the phone. If he had stayed back home in the night, he might have escaped from them,” she said.
Sudha revealed that Krishnakumar had started drinking after becoming acquainted with Faisalmon. “He was a person who wanted to help everyone. He even raised some cash for Faisal from one of his friends,” she added.