KASARAGOD: The Bengaluru police, investigating the death of Reuters journalist Shruthi Narayanan, said her techie husband Anish Koyadan Koroth has absconded. Whitefield police in Bengaluru had charged Koroth, a native of Sreekandapuram in Kannur district, with abetment to suicide (Section 306) and cruelty by husband (Section 498 A) of the IPC.
Two officers of Whitefield station visited his house in Sreekandapuram near Taliparamba, but his parents told them that Anish never came home. "We believe he is not in Kerala. His phone is switched off. We will have to find other ways to track his whereabouts," said Whitefield sub-inspector Keerthi Lakshmi, who is heading the investigation.
Meanwhile, Anish has applied for anticipatory bail in a Karnataka court, she said. "He is not likely to get it because we have strongly opposed it," he said. Shruthi was found dead by police in her apartment in Whitefield on March 22.
She purportedly left behind three handwritten notes -- one for the police, one for her husband, and one for her aged parents Narayanan Periya and Satyabhama in Kasaragod. The notes are dated March 20 (Sunday), the day police believe she died.
The security guards of the apartment told police that Anish Koroth left for his hometown on March 19. "But his parents are now saying he did not come there. He did not turn up after coming to know of her death either. But his relatives were there in the hospital," said the sub-inspector.
The notes accused Anish of torturing Shruthi and said, "I am going to end my life and two persons will be the happiest. You and I. I am happy because I am escaping this torturous life and you will be happy because you will not have me in your life."
Investigating officers are trying to compare the handwriting with Shruthi's. Of late, she had not written any letter to her family or friends. "We are checking with her office to find a sample of her handwriting. Her father Narayanan said his son and complainant Nishanth have taken with them some old notebooks. When asked if Anish could have fled from the country, police said it was unlikely. We are considering issuing a look-out notice," Keerthi Lakshmi said.
Bid to form all-party panel
Kasaragod MLA E Chandrasekharan has called for an all-party meeting on April 4 to form an action committee to ensure justice for Shruthi. The meeting will be held at the Kasaragod municipal conference
hall at 4pm.