THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after an engineering graduate from Bengaluru was in connection with the murder of former RJ Rajesh, a Kundara native was also nabbed by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Monday.
Swathi Santhosh, 23, is the arrested. Kilimanoor CI V S Pradeep Kumar, who is investigating the case, said Swathi was involved in hatching the conspiracy in the case and arranged the country swords used to hack Rajesh. “Swathi is a criminal and a friend of Appunni who is still absconding. He also assisted Salih Bin Jalal, the kingpin of the four-member gang, by picking him from the Bengaluru airport and bringing him to Kerala. He helped the gang flee from the crime spot,” said Pradeep Kumar.
Swathi has been booked under IPC Section 120 (b) (Punishment of criminal conspiracy) and Section 212 (Punishment for harbouring offender). He was later remanded in judicial custody for 14 days. The police said culprits directly involved in the crime will be arrested soon. They said the three culprits were hiding in Maharashtra. Rajesh aka Rasikan Rajesh, 36, of Kilimanoor was hacked to death in his studio by a four-member gang around 2 am on March 27. Rajesh’s assistant Kuttan was also attacked. But he escaped and is being treated at the Medical College Hospital.
Top cops have started tracking Abdul Sathar, the key accused who allegedly gave the contract to kill Rajesh to Salih bin Jalal aka Alibhai, on the suspicion his ex-wife was in a relationship with Rajesh.
Kingpin likely to arrive in state today
The kingpin, Salih Bin Jalal aka Alibhai, is likely to arrive in the state on Tuesday. Sources said he would arrive to surrender before the police. However, the police team issued alerts at all airports and told the officers to detain him once he landed at the airport. “ We did not get clear information about this. There are some hints. If he arrives here, we won’t let him surrender and an arrest would be recorded,” said P Anilkumar, Attingal DySP.