KONDOTTY: The police have arrested a priest and his wife for the murder of a woman at Pulikkal, near here.
Anthiyoorkunnu Vettaykoru Makan Temple priest Moloormal Durgaprasad, 26, of Maruthonkara, Kuttiady, and his wife Purayil Aswathy, 21, hailing from Unnikkulam, Balussery, are the arrested. The body of Aroor native C M Shakunthala, 46, was found in the Kuttiady River in Kozhikode on Saturday.
According to the police, Durgaprasad convinced Shakunthala that there was a hidden treasure in her house and offered her help to find it. He invited the woman to his ancestral home for special prayers to find the treasure and killed her for money.
“The murder was planned for the money and gold Shakunthala had brought along with her. The woman had `40,000 and three sovereigns of gold in her possession when she was killed. Durgaprasad sold the gold in a jewellery at Kondotty,” said Inspector of Police at Kondotty, B Santhosh.
The priest asked Shakunthala to conduct a special prayer with money and gold to find the treasure. He brought her to his ancestral home at Mullankunnu on August 12 on a motorcycle. He tied her legs and hands convincing her that it was part of the ritual. He also covered her eyes and brought her close to the window in the room.
Durgaprasad then made a noose with a rope and put it around her neck and tied the other end to the window. He went out of the room and pushed the woman from the back through the window, causing the noose to tighten and killing the woman.
Durgaprasad left soon after the murder. He returned with his wife and shifted the body in a plastic bag to a car he had rented. The body was later abandoned in the Kuttiady River.
Malappuram DySP S Abhilash, Kondotty Inspector of Police B Santhosh, SI K Sreekumar, grade SI Kunjan, Senior CPO Abdul Asees, Sathyanathan, Sasi Kundarakkad and Anilkumar investigated the case.