KOCHI: An inquiry into a missing -person complaint lodged with the Udayamperoor police by a woman’s husband three months ago helped the Kochi police unravel the mystery behind a coldblooded murder plotted by him and his lover. Premkumar, 40, of Kollamattam house at Ithithanam in Changanassery and his lover, Sunitha Baby, 39, hailing from Vellarada in Thiruvananthapuram, were arrested for allegedly strangling Vidya, 48, a native of Cherthala, to death at a villa in Thiruvananthapuram on September 21 and burying the body in Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu.
Premkumar, a graduate in hotel management, had been residing at a rented house at Nadakkavu along with wife Vidya. On September 23, he filed a complaint at the Udayamperoor police station saying his wife had been missing since September 20. During the course of the investigation, the Kochi City Police Commissioner received reliable information about the role of Premkumar behind the incident.
Subsequently, a special investigation team was constituted under DCP (law and order, traffic) G Poonguzhali and the team started an investigation with the assistance of the crime squad and cyber cell of Thiruvananthapuram.
Mom identifies Vidya’s body through pictures
“On September 20, Premkumar, on the pretext of going for medical treatment, took Vidya to a villa at Vellarada, Thiruvananthapuram where his lover Sunitha Baby was housed without Vidya’s knowledge. Premkumar made Vidya drunk, he then, along with Sunitha, strangled Vidya to death using a rope. The incident occurred on September 21 morning and Premkumar kept the body inside the bathroom.
hereafter, both Premkumar and Sunitha transported the body in a car and abandoned it at an isolated spot along the Tirunelveli highway,” said Thrikkakara Assistant Commissioner of Police M Viswanath.
“The accused have confessed that they had committed the crime to live together. They got into a relationship after a school reunion function held in Thiruvananthapuram in March this year. Sunitha, who had been working as a nursing superintendent at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, was married and living separately from her husband following marital discord,” a police officer said.
“Premkumar and Vidya have two children. Vidya, a divorcee, had two children from her earlier marriage but these children had issues with Premkumar and the couple used to have frequent quarrels. Vidya, in the meantime, had come to know of Premkumar’s illicit relationship which also worsened their marital life,” said the officer.
The Tirunelveli police had registered a case under Section 174 of CrPC (death under suspicious circumstances), published a notice in newspapers and finally declared Vidya’s body as unidentified.
Finally, the police cremated her body there. “From the photographs of the body, Vidya’s mother identified her and we initiated steps to exhume the body and conduct a postmortem examination again,” he added. The duo was produced before the Tripunithura Judicial Magistrate Court which remanded them in judicial custody.