KANNUR: Inspired by the film Drishyam, a 36-year-old man murdered his friend and dumped his body in a well at Bakkalam in Kannur. To mislead the police, the accused put the mobile phone of the victim in a national permit vehicle moving on the highway to create an impression that the missing man was on a travel.
But the details of the gruesome murder was unravelled as the body of Rajeesh, who had been missing for the past two weeks was found inside an abandoned well near Bakkalam in Kannur on Wednesday.
And luck ran out for the accused Ragesh, also a resident of Bakkalam, who had escaped to Abu Dhabi after committing the crime.
P Rajeesh, a resident of Bakkalam was working as peon in AUP, an aided school. Though he went missing on September 5, a man missing case was registered only days later at the Taliparamba police station. The case was immediately handed over to a team headed by the Circle Inspector for investigation.
Police said the accused Ragesh and his friends used to gather at the place near the well to consume alcohol. On Wednesday, some of them who reached the place found that a foul smell emanated from the well. They immediately informed the police. Later during a search, the body of Rajeesh was found.
Much before the body was found, the police had got information about the murderer of Rajeesh. They suspected the role of Ragesh aka Kasi, a taxi driver at Dharmasala, behind the missing of Rajeesh.
According to the police, a love triangle led to the murder. Ragesh was having an illicit affair with a woman living in Bakkalam. However, the woman discarded Ragesh and began an affair with Rajeesh, which led to the murder, the police said.
Ragesh who decided to take revenge, called the deceased from school saying that he wanted to speak some matters with him. Ragesh took the victim in an ambassador car owned by his friend Mohanan. Rajeesh was taken to a lonely place near Parassinikadavu hospital, where he stabbed him with a knife and later pushed his body into the well.
A day after the murder, Ragesh flew to Abu Dhabi, where his elder brother was working. Meanwhile the police conducted a massive search at various places based on Rajeesh's mobile location. It was only on September 14 that the body was located in the 20-m deep well, District Police Chief Sanjay Kumar Gurudin said.
He said they sensed something fishy ever since the investigation started. In the initial stage of investigation, the police had strong suspicion that the missing person was no more and could have been killed.
However the accused kept the police guessing by misleading them. During interrogation, it came to light that he chose the way Mohanlal did things in the film Drishyam. He used the mobile of the deceased and put it in a national permit vehicle which was travelling on the national highway to mislead the police, the SP said. It took the police four days to locate the body after a massive search, he added.
The police put pressure on his brother to bring the accused back to the country and when he landed at the Karipur airport on Thursday morning, he was arrested.
Meanwhile the police also seized the car in which the body of Rajeesh was taken. The car was located at a workshop where Ragesh had given it for minor repairs. He had told the owner of the workshop that the blood stain was that of a patient whom he had taken to the Pariyaram medical college. But police found that no patient was brought to the hospital in such a vehicle. Later, the CCTV visuals revealed that the particular car was driven through Kuttikol bridge towards Taliparamba.