A man, who was arrested on charge of murdering a woman who resisted his molestation attempt, was arrested again on charge of murdering his partner in the first crime.
Hurt and Homicide Wing of the Crime Branch Ernakulam unit under K.G. Simon, Superintendent of Police, had arrested Satheesan, 35, of Randukai in January, 10 years after he murdered Rosily, wife of Francis at Randukai near Vellikulangara. At the time of his arrest, it was believed that Ayyappan, who was with Satheesan at the time of Rosily’s murder, committed suicide by consuming poison in 2008.
Satheesan was produced before the court in the case and remanded. He later came out on bail. However, the Crime Branch team kept on working on the leads related to death of Ayyappan. “It was pointed out that blood stains were spotted near the tree where Ayyappan’s body was found. Also, the post-mortem examination showed that furidan, the pesticide that caused death, was force-fed to the victim and his jaw bone was dislocated, presumably after being hit. All these led to chances of murder rather than suicide,” said Mr. Simon.
The police case was that Satheesan and Ayyappan tried to molest Rosily when she was grazing the cow. When she resisted, she was strangulated using the rope used to tether the cow. Her body was spotted inside the forest area on January 4, 2003, and initially police wrote the case off as an accidental death.
However, the Crime Branch cracked the case after interrogating nearly 300 persons, who had been involved in poaching wildlife, ganja cultivation and arrack brewing inside the forest area. It was learnt that Ayyappan used to tell others that he would confess to the crime if the police questioned him again.
This worried Satheesan and he went looking for Ayyappan after purchasing the poison. While searching for Ayyappan inside the Athirappally forest area, Satheesan met Shivan, whose assistance he sought for committing the crime. Together, they tracked down Ayyappan and took him to the forest area along with another person named Chandran.
While having liquor, Satheesan brought up the issue of Rosily murder again. When Ayyappan refused to cooperate, Satheesan and Shivan beat up Ayyappan after scaring away Chandran. Then they tied up Ayyappan and force-fed him the poison mixed in liquor.
“Even though they had scared away Chandran, he was witness to the crime. Similarly, they had folded the packet containing the remaining poison and kept it away safe, which is hardly something a person committing suicide would do,” Mr. Simon said.
Chandran had given his statement before the court about witnessing the crime. Satheesan was produced before the court and remanded. The second accused in this case, Shivan, is already under judicial remand in a different case.
