THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It would have ended just as an unsolved woman missing case, as the story presented by the victim’s husband was so convincing that the police initially believed she had eloped to Bengaluru with her paramour. Sajeevan Vishwambharan, 45, of Edavanakad in Ernakulam, told officers in February 2022 that he and his wife Remya, 32, had a nasty quarrel, after which she left their house. He maintained the story for almost a year.
However, some missing links in his statement had prompted a probe team at the Njarackkal Police Station to keep Sajeevan under constant monitoring. Officers kept grilling him. A few days ago, he cracked. Sajeevan had killed Remya and buried her body on the premises of the house, where the couple used to stay with their two children.
“He was so cunning that he managed to convince his children, parents and neighbours that Remya had left him after picking up a fight with him,” says a senior officer, who was part of the investigation team.“We had doubts. He couldn’t give convincing answers when we asked certain questions regarding his wife’s mobile phone. We spotted certain chinks in his cover-up story. On sustained questioning, he cracked and revealed details of the brutal murder that he committed.”
A probe based on the victim’s mobile phone details helped officers note missing links in the well-crafted story narrated by Sajeevan, who was, in fact, the first to report that Remya was missing. He lodged a complaint on February 19, 2022.
Following Sajeevan’s confession, police officers and forensic experts exhumed Remya’s skeletal remains on January 12. Sajeevan told officers that he murdered his wife after the couple fought over frequent calls to Remya’s mobile phone. The children, he added, were at their grandparents’ place at the time of the crime.
Sajeevan, a daily wage painter, convinced the children – a girl studying in Class 12 and son in Class 9 – that their mother had abandoned them to live with another man.“He destroyed Remya’s mobile phone,” says an officer. “The records showed that the phone was not active from the date on which Sajeevan reported that she was missing. This aroused suspicion.”
Following the Elanthoor human sacrifice case, the police department decided on a relook at all woman-missing cases across Kerala. Sajeevan was called back for questioning. But this time, he made statements that contradicted his initial claims.“He forgot what he had said earlier,” says the officer. “His story started crumbling, and he eventually had to reveal the truth.”