PATHANAMTHITTA: A case of suicide has turned out to be murder after nearly two years of the incident in Pathanamthitta. The accused — Nazeer (Naimon), 39, of Kottangal, Mallappally — has been arrested by the district crime branch.
On December 15, 2019, a 26-year-old woman was found hanging in the bedroom of her lover’s house in Perumpetty police station limits. She was living with her lover (a widower), his two-year-old child and his father. On the day of the incident, the other three were not in the house.
The police registered a case of unnatural death. But the crime branch investigation has now established that the woman’s death was a case of murder. On October 23, the district crime branch DySP J Umesh Kumar arrested Nazeer and he was remanded in judicial custody.
“The incident took place between 9.45am and 4.30pm. Nazeer, a wood merchant who reached there as part of his business, understood that the victim was alone. He entered the house and tried to rape her. When she resisted, he banged her head against the cot in the bedroom and she became unconscious. Then he raped and tortured her. Later, he hanged her from the bedroom’s iron hook using a white dhothi,” said a member of the investigation team.
The local police, led by SI Sherif Kumar, investigated it as a case of suicide. The inquest was conducted by the Mallappally tahsildar and the autopsy was conducted at the Kottayam Medical College Hospital. The autopsy found 53 wounds on the victim’s body.
The Perumpetty police seized a dairy and other documents. The blood samples of her lover and his father were also collected for scientific examination. In February, 2020, the district police chief handed over the investigation to the district crime branch.
Investigating the matter in a scientific way, the district crime branch detected the presence of semen in the genital area of the victim. Further investigation revealed the gruesome rape and murder, as confirmed by the then district crime branch DySP R Prathapan Nair, who is currently the Thiruvananthapuram control room ACP. The district police chief R Nishanthini monitored the investigation.
The sleuths also sought the help of the doctor who conducted the autopsy. A scientific investigation helped crack the case as there were no eye-witnesses. Later, the investigation was led by DySP V J Jophy. He focused on the three men who were seen near the house on the day of the incident. They were subjected to detailed questioning. The samples collected by the doctor from the woman’s nail were also sent for scientific examination, which revealed the DNA of a stranger.