Lawyer couple, E T Rajavel and Mohana, wanted by the Coimbatore City Police for the murder of realtor Manivel and his wife Ammasi, were arrested by the Kerala police on Thursday. Special teams from the Coimbatore City Police have rushed to Kovalam in Kerala to take custody of the couple and bring them back.
The couple, who were eluding police net for more than a month now, were caught by the Kovalam police, as they were alighting from a tourist taxi that they had hired in Chennai, to catch an auto, upon knowing that the Coimbatore City Police were on their trail.
“Between December 1 and 3, the couple had been staying in a hotel in Egmore, Chennai, before moving to another hotel in T Nagar. On knowing that we were closing in on them, the couple left behind their MUV at the T Nagar hotel, hired a taxi and left for Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram. We caught their associate who came to take away the lawyer’s car and from him we obtained the mobile number of the taxi driver,” said K Ramachandran, Assistant Commissioner - Law and Order (Coimbatore South).
“Immediately, we called up the driver and informed him that the couple travelling in his car were wanted in some cases in Coimbatore. Sensing that the driver had been alerted, the couple got down from the taxi and tried to escape in an auto. As the couple did not pay the driver, he chased them and that was when the Kerala police caught the couple,” the Assistant Commissioner added.
Kovalam police Sub Inspector Sunu Kumar told Express that the two were taken into custody as they were trying get into an auto after getting down from a taxi with Tamil Nadu registration in a suspicious manner.
“Our personnel who were on duty at Palace Junction saw the couple and their children getting down from a Tamil Nadu registered taxi and rushing into an auto around 11 am. The driver of the taxi was chasing the auto. Following the information, we rushed to the spot and took them into custody for inquiry,” said Sunu Kumar.
During the inquiry with the taxi driver, Kerala police came to know that the Tamil Nadu police were on the lookout for the couple.
After ascertaining the identity of Rajavel and Mohana, Kovalam police relayed the message to the Coimbatore police.