KOCHI: The CBI has taken over the probe into the sensational Mithila Mohan murder case. The Kochi unit of the CBI Special Crime Branch re-registered the FIR before the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court on Friday. It was on April 5, 2006, that liquor businessman V A Mohanan alias Mithila Mohan was shot dead by two men. The men knocked on the door of Mohanan’s residence at Vennala in Kochi. When a relative opened the door, they asked for Mohanan. As the businessman approached the door, one of the assailants fired a bullet into his chest.
The accused in the case are Santhosh Kumar alias Kanan, 51, Pottekkattil House, Poonkunam of Trichur; Pandian alias Dindigul Pandia alias Madras Pandia; Mathivanan, Near Watch Tower, Vedaranyam, Tamil Nadu; and Uppali, Near Watch Tower, Vedaranyam.Only Santhosh Kumar was arrested. Pandian was shot dead in an encounter with the Tamil Nadu police. The whereabouts of Mathivanan and Uppali, shooters hired to kill the 70-year-old businessman, are yet to be identified.It was following a directive of the Kerala High Court that the investigation of the case was taken over by the CBI.
It was in April 2013 that the Crime Branch, which was probing the case, arrested Santhosh Kumar after it was found that he had hired the shooters to kill Mohanan due to a business rivalry. The Crime Branch suspects they were members of the LTTE who stayed in Vedaranyam close to the settlement of Sri Lankan refugees.It is believed that tracing the two shooters would be a herculean task for the CBI as the case is about 12 years old. Last week, the Crime Branch had handed over all the documents related to the investigation to the CBI team. CBI Inspector K C Krishnan Kutty will probe the case.