A Special Investigation Team (SIT) led by Chengannur Deputy Superintendent of Police M.K. Binukumar has arrested a 57-year-old murder accused after almost two decades on the run.
Kuttykrishnan G. P., of Mannar near Chengannur who has been accused of killing his wife Jayanthi (32) on April 2, 2004, was nabbed from Thrikkakara in Kochi. According to the police, Kuttykrishnan following an argument with Jayanthi attacked her and smashed her head with a hammer in the afternoon. After she died, he decapitated her head using a knife. He along with his 15-month-old daughter spent the entire night beside the dead body. The murder had come to light a day after and the Mannar police apprehended him.
The police said that it was the couple’s second marriage. However, Kuttykrishnan came to know about Jayanti’s first marriage and divorce only after their marriage. “He was furious with Jayanthi for hiding the first marriage from him. He blindly suspected that she was having extramarital affairs. These things led to her murder,” said an official.
Officials said that he went into hiding a year after the murder after being released on bail. Though the police tried to nab him, all the attempts turned futile. The Mavelikara Additional Sessions Court-1 cancelled his bail. In 2009, the court issued a long pending warrant against him. In June 2023, District Police Chief Chaitra Theresa John constituted the SIT to find him.
The investigators said that Kuttykrishnan had lived and worked at several places including Kattapana in Idukki, Odisha, and Mumbai. “After going into hiding, he had spent time with an astrologer at Kattappana. After the astrologer’s death, he went to Odisha and worked in a tyre retreading company. Later he went to Mumbai and tried his luck in share trading. He suffered huge financial losses and came to Thrikkakara in 2014 where he lived as an astrologer under various false names,” Mr. Binukumar.
He was produced before the Mavelikara Additional Sessions Court-1 and remanded in judicial custody on Thursday. The SIT also included Mannar circle inspector Jose Mathew, sub-inspector Abhiram C., and senior civil police officers- Unnikrishna Pillai, Mohammed Shafeek and Arun Bhaskar.
