When 82-year-old Pappachan, a former assistant general manager of BSNL, died in a road accident near Asramam Ground in Kollam in May 2024, it was initially considered as another hit-and-run case.
Things, however, turned murky soon. Pappachan’s two children, who were settled abroad, noticed some unusual transactions from their father’s account.
Meanwhile, the Kollam East police, which probed the case, found that the man who drove the car that mowed down the octogenarian was a history-sheeter. Inspector Anil Kumar, who led the investigation, had a “gut feeling” that it was not an accident, but a murder. He was right.
Though quite wealthy, Pappachan led a frugal life. He maintained minimal contact with his children, and had the habit of saving every penny that came his way. He even commuted by bicycle to cut down travel expenses.
Pappachan’s avarice, slight memory loss, and detached family life caught the attention of Saritha, a branch manager with Muthoottu Mini Nidhi. With the assistance of an executive named Anoop, she convinced Pappachan to deposit about Rs 80 lakh with her branch.
Subsequently, the duo made him take loans and give them the money on the promise of a better interest rate. However, they did not keep their word – they siphoned off the money.
As Pappachan fumed over the swindle, the duo decided to do away with him in an unsuspecting manner.
They planned a road accident. Animon, a history-sheeter, was hired as the driver to pull off the murder.
Inspector Anil recalls that it was Animon’s criminal links that made him suspicious of foul play. “There was a gut feeling that there was something fishy about the accident,” he says.
Officers probing the case analysed Animon’s call detail record (CDR), and found that the SIM card he was using at that time had been taken two days after Pappachan’s death. “That caught our attention,” Anil recalls.
“Why did he change his SIM after the incident? So we tracked down all the numbers he was using and analysed their CDRs as well. We found that Animon had interacted with some employees of the bank where Pappachan had accounts. It was also found that there were financial transactions between Animon and some of these employees.”
Meanwhile, Pappachan’s children approached the police citing irregularities in his bank transactions. “When they informed us about the irregularities, the picture became clear,” says Anil.
During questioning, Saritha, Anoop and Animon failed to provide a plausible explanation regarding their conversations and financial transactions. Further grilling revealed that Saritha had given a ‘contract’ to Animon to murder Pappachan.
The police soon found out that the owner of the car used to commit the offence was also involved in the crime. Hashif Ali, the car owner, was also arraigned as an accused.
Further investigation revealed that an autorickshaw driver Mahin, who had transported the injured Pappachan to the hospital after the accident, was also part of the conspiracy. He was also arrested and arraigned.