KOTTAYAM: The special investigation team (SIT) probing the case of abduction and death of Kevin P Joseph has closed in on putting in order the turn of events related to the crime. Charges against the accused too are being finalised. As per sources, it was Kevin’s wife Neenu Chacko’s father Chacko John, her brother Syanu Chacko and cousin Riyas who planned the crime and implemented it with the help of the other accused.
The SIT is expected to revise the order of the accused after the entire gang is arrested. Kottayam district police chief B Harisankar said charges, including IPC sections 302 (murder), 362 (abduction), 141 (unlawful assembly) and 441 (criminal trespass), were slapped on all the accused in the case.Interestingly, Harisankar said IPC section 120 B was charged only against Chacko John while others were charged with IPC section 34 (criminal act done by several persons with a common intention).
At the same time, the police are clear in their stand that Kevin was chased into the water with the intention of killing him. Hence, IPC 302 was charged. They submitted the remand report at the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court (JFMC)-I, Ettumanoor, with such a statement.The SIT arrived at that particular conclusion after interrogating all nine accused in the case. The statement of Aneesh Sebastian — Kevin’s cousin — who was abducted along with Kevin was also recorded.
Kochi Range IG Vijay Sakhare told reporters the statements of Aneesh and the accused in this regard were corroborative. “There are no contradictions in the statements. All of them said Kevin escaped from the vehicle and ran away when they arrived at Chaliyekkara,” he said.The police said, when Kevin escaped from the vehicle, the gang members chased him to the rivulet there. At the same time, SP Harisankar played down Aneesh’s statement to the media that Kevin was tired of brutal torture and was unable to run away from the spot.
“In fact, Aneesh told us that Kevin ran away from the spot. Since Aneesh has poor eyesight and it was raining then, he was unable to observe the physical condition of Kevin. Moreover, Aneesh was vomiting and didn’t get a clear sight of developments,” he added.
Three more arrested
The police took three more persons into custody on Wednesday in connection with the abduction and death of Kevin. They are Nishad, an autorickshaw driver, Shefin, a relative of Syanu Chacko, and Titto Jerome. While the police arrested Nishad and Shefin from Ettumanoor, when they arrived to surrender at a court there, Titto surrendered at a court in Peermade, Idukki.The police also took three vehicles — Toyota Innova, Hyundai i20 and Maruti Wagon R, in which the accused arrived at Mannanam to abduct Kevin and Aneesh — into custody. With this, nine out of the 14 members in the list of accused have been arrested.
The police are optimistic of nabbing the other accused in the coming days.