Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Attack case: laptop computer recovered

Thiruvananthapuram: The city police, on Tuesday, said they had recovered the laptop computer suspected to have been used for making the pamphlets lampooning Assistant Commissioner of Police Sanal Kumar from the house of Sooraj Mohan, one of the main accused in the case relating to the firebombing of the officer’s house at Pothujanam Lane, near Kumarapuram, early on February 25.

Investigators said they had recovered nearly 80 pamphlets (similar to those found stuck on the compound walls of houses in Mr. Sanal Kumar’s neighbourhood on the day of the attack) from the house of N. Harikumar, video editor of a television news channel and another suspect in the arson attack case.

The police said they had submitted the computer as material evidence in the court. High-Tech Crime Inquiry Cell officials and experts from the Cyber Forensics Resource Centre at the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing here will forensically examine the computer for evidence.

Sooraj had surrendered before a court in the district last week.

They said Sinu, alias Siraj Murukumpuzha, a 32-year-old news cameraman and the main accused in the case, designed the pamphlets on his laptop computer and printed 500 copies for dispersal in Mr. Sanal Kumar’s neighbourhood.

The police case is that Sinu, with the help of his brother-in-law Sooraj Mohan and Hari Kumar, torched Mr. Sanal Kumar’s car and hurled petrol bombs at his house to take revenge on the officer for arraigning him as accused in a case relating to the kidnap of alleged financial fraudster Sabarinath last year.

The arson attack occurred a few days after Mr. Sanal Kumar was suspended from service for alleged supervisory lapse in a case relating to the attack on an airport security staff by two passengers in an inebriated state.

Sinu, who went underground after being charged with the abduction of Sabarinath, saw Mr. Sanal Kumar’s suspension as an opportunity to harm him.

The petrol bombs used for the attack were made in the warehouse of a food distribution agency where Sinu’s wife, Surabhi, was employed.

The police have charged her with conspiracy.

The prosecution case is that Sinu, Sooraj, Harikumar and Hari G. Nair (video editor of a news channel) made the petrol bombs used for the attack at Surabhi’s workplace. Hari G. Nair was not part of the execution of the crime.

Investigators said the accused parked their car at the nearby St. George’s Lane and slept till 2 a.m. before beginning their operation.

They donned surgical gloves so as not to leave behind any fingerprints.

The police said they had recovered the gloves from a compound near the scene of crime.

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