THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police team formed to crack the mysterious accident death of journalist S V Pradeep on Monday evening is still groping in dark. The cops have not been able to trace the vehicle that caused the accident as the CCTV camera visuals collected from two sites did not provide the images of the number plate.
One visual collected from a CCTV camera installed in a shop opposite to the accident spot near Karakkamandapam had revealed that it was a Swaraj Mazda lorry that knocked down Pradeep. The visual of the vehicle was caught in another camera also, but it lacked clarity and did not feature the number plate.
The police sources said they managed to identify the driver of another lorry that was ferrying rice which was spotted in one of the footages collected from a camera. The rice lorry was seen travelling behind the Swaraj Mazda. Though the cops quizzed him, he failed to provide any concrete lead that could help the sleuths trace the vehicle.
Fort Assistant Commissioner Prathapan Nair said there were only a few CCTV cameras in and around the accident spot and that has created hurdles in identifying the vehicle.
" There are no police cameras in the vicinity. The private cameras also did not provide much help as they are mostly turned towards the entrances of houses or shops," he said.
Nevertheless, the cops are scouring the cameras along the highway as they felt it could provide a breakthrough in the case. "We are now focussed on covering cameras along the highways. After that, we will cover the cameras in the off routes. We are hopeful of detecting the vehicle soon, " the Assistant Commissioner said.
Meanwhile, the police have registered a murder case instead of road accident case on the basis of the statement of the scribe's mother.
She had alleged that her son was threatened many times on social media for his reporting. The police sources said her statement was recorded verbatim and on that basis a murder case was registered.