The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Triple murder: two Army personnel under probe

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 13, 2006
ePaper

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Triple murder: two Army personnel under probe

Staff Reporter

Crime Branch issues look out notice

Thiruvananthapuram: The State Crime Branch police are investigating two Army personnel in connection with the murder of a 24-year-old woman and her 17-day-old twin girls at Eram in Anchal police station limits on February 10 this year. The woman, Ranjini, and her children were found dead with their throats slit.

The Crime Branch has issued a "look out" notice with the photographs of the suspects.

One of them, Divil Kumar, 21, was Ranjini's neighbour and lover. The other was Rajesh, 28, of Kannur, a Lance Naik working with Divil Kumar at the Pathankot unit of the Indian Army in Punjab.

The State Women's Commission had asked Divil Kumar to undergo a DNA test to determine the paternity of Ranjini's children. The test was ordered on the basis of a complaint filed by Ranjini in which she said Divil Kumar was the father of her twins. Ranjini had also written several letters to the Army top brass making the same claim.

According to the Crime Branch, Divil Kumar became a "natural suspect" in the case in the initial stage of the investigation. The police team led by the then Circle Inspector of Police, Shanawaz, found that Divil Kumar joined his army unit in Punjab on the day the triple murder occurred.

The only lead the police had was the copy of a vehicle purchase agreement found at the scene of the crime. It showed that a person named Anil Kumar, of Pallimukku, purchased a second-hand motorbike from an agency at Ulloor here. The police found the address and identity of the buyer to be fake.

The agency owner told the police that the buyer withdrew cash from an ATM counter at Ulloor. The information proved to be crucial to the investigation. Investigators, who scanned the ATM cash transactions, found that Rajesh, an army man hailing from Kannur, was also among those who withdrew money that day.

The police showed Rajesh's photograph to Ranjini's mother, Santhamma. She said the youth befriended her when Ranjini was admitted to SAT Hospital here for delivery. He identified himself as Anil Kumar to Santhamma.

The Crime Branch suspects Divil Kumar to have employed Rajesh to murder Ranjini and her children. An official said Ranjini's neighbour saw Rajesh leave the victim's house on the day of the murder. The agency collected several fingerprints of the suspect from the scene of the crime. The murder weapon was yet to be recovered.

An official said the suspects went absent without leave from their respective units soon after the investigators made headway in the case. A team led by SP A.V. George, Dy.SP A. Abdul Salam and CI N.A. Rasheed were investigating the case.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala