Southern States - Kerala   

One held for Ripper-style murders

By Our Staff Reporter

KOCHI DEC. 30. A sustained effort made by the Kerala Police to trap the accused who had gone on a `Ripper-style' murder spree bore fruit, with today's arrest of a wandering destitute.

The accused, Subbaraj (53), son of Subbaiyya, a native of Mariyamman Kovil Street, Kamakshipuram Village, Theni, has so far confessed to committing seven murders in Ernakulam Rural and Thrissur districts. He was arrested from Vypeen today.

Subbraj had killed seven victims, most of them beggars and destitutes, by crushing their head with heavy boulders, said T. V. Kunjikannan, SP (Ernakulam Rural), who constituted the special squad which trapped the accused. The squad was led by Jose Sebastian, Aluva Dy.SP. He was assisted by the Vadakkekkara CI, P. V. Varghese and the Kjarakkal CI, T. S. Joseph.

Mr. Kunjikannan, who retires from service on Tuesday, had been member of the special squad which trapped `Ripper' Chandran. The Ernakulam Range DIG, B. S. Mohammed Yasin, said that three others had escaped with injuries, after a bid on their life by Subbaraj.

``The accused used to demand money from those sleeping in the pavements and in front of shops. On being refused money, he used to threaten them with dire consequences, finally crushing their head using boulders from the area.

The squad members made the dummy of a human being and placed it at many vulnerable spots during night after covering it with bed sheet. They watched from a distance whether anyone was examining it,'' Mr. Yasin said.

The police got a tip-off about the accused after a videographer reported to the police that he saw a person with a limp near Thuruthiparamba, Vadakkekkara, the spot where a Ripper-style murder was committed on August 25. Based on the description provided by him and information collected from destitutes in the area that the person was short-tempered, the police zeroed in on the suspect. On examination, he was found to have corn on his foot, the reason for the limp. On being interrogated, he reportedly justified his act, saying that he had killed only poor people, thus `saving them'.

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