The police investigation in a missing woman case at Thuvvur in the district has unearthed a cold-blooded murder committed by a former Youth Congress leader with the help of his father, two brothers, and a friend.
The police found that the accused had been influenced by Malayalam crime thrillers such as Sethurama Iyer CBI and Drisyam.
The spine-chilling murder story unfolded when the police recovered the decomposed body of Sujita, 35, wife of Manoj Mankuth, Palliparamba, from a waste pit at the house of Vishnu, a local social worker and former secretary of the Youth Congress Thuvvur constituency, on Monday night.
The police arrested Vishnu, his father Muthu, brothers Vaisakh and Jithu, and his friend Shihan in connection with the murder. The police said they strangulated Sujita at Vishnu’s house and dumped her in the waste pit after packing her in a plastic bag. They stole her gold jewellery, sold it at a local shop and divided the bounty.
However, the police were not content with the motive of ‘jewellery theft’ in the murder. “We are going to seek Vishnu’s custody for further interrogation. The motive behind this pre-planned brutal murder looks incredible,” said District Police Chief Sujit Das S.
Sujita was missing since August 10. She is believed to have been murdered on August 10 at Vishnu’s house, and her body disposed of on August 11.
Vishnu had procured building materials such as hollow bricks, granite metal, and M-sand and placed them on top of the pit in which Sujita’s body was dumped. Apparently inspired by the Drishyam film theme, Vishnu was planning to construct a bathroom on top of the filled pit. “Had we been delayed by two days in reaching Vishnu, he would have started the bathroom construction work. He had procured all materials and was about to start the work,” said Mr. Sujit Das.
Like the ‘silent villain’ character in the film Sethurama Iyer CBI, Vishnu was in the forefront of the local people publicising the missing news of Sujita and blaming the police for the delay in finding her.
But he failed to realise that the police were after him because his was the last call attended by Sujita. The police, who tracked all the phone calls of Sujita and her friends, also found that Vishnu had sold some gold jewellery after Sujita went missing.
“It is a well planned murder committed in cold blood,” said Mr. Sujit Das.
The Congress expelled Vishnu from the party. Expressing shock at the incident, the Youth Congress district committee demanded that maximum punishment be ensured for the culprits.
Youth Congress district president Shaji Pacheri said here on Tuesday that Vishnu was expelled from his party positions on May 24 following recommendations by the Thuvvur constituency executive committee. Mr. Pacheri said the party would never help a man involved in such a cruel and inhuman act.
