Remains of man found in septic tank two years after he went missing

He was murdered by his associates in November 2014

January 03, 2017 06:16 pm | Updated 06:16 pm IST - KOLLAM:

The Kollam police recovered parts of a human skeleton from a septic tank inside a vacant compound at Chinnakada in the city on Tuesday morning. The bones are believed to be that of Krishna Kumar, 41, who went missing more than two years ago.

It was recovered at the instance of Roy alias Komban, who is the main suspect in the murder. Two others, Pookari Ayyappan and Murugan have also been arrested in this connection.

Krishna Kumar went missing in November 2014 and had remained untraced. Initial stories in circulation were that Kumar had died in police lock-up and the body was disposed of by the police officers concerned. All the three who have now been arrested had played a lead role in constituting an action council to launch a campaign against the police.

The allegation of Kumar’s mother was that when he had gone to purchase fish from a nearby evening market, officers from the Kollam East police station took him into custody and since then he was missing. When Kumar could not be traced, his mother moved the High Court to get the case shifted from the Kollam East police. It was then handed over to the District Crime Branch.

A few days ago, Ayyappan, also involved in several ganja cases, had a rift with Roy when the latter refused to arrange bail for him. This made an inebriated Ayyappan spill the beans to others at Pullikada colony in the city where Roy lives. The investigating officers were soon tipped off about it. The police then took Roy into custody.

As per Ayyappan’s version to the police, Kumar and Roy were close associates in ganja peddling. But the latter learnt that Kumar had had been molesting his daughter. To take revenge, he invited Kumar for a boozing session inside the compound of a commercial complex at Chinnakada which is deserted at night. Ayyappan and Murugan also joined.

While drinking, the topic of molestation cropped up and it led to a fight during which Kumar was fatally hit on the head with a bug rock by Roy. The body was then dumped into the septic tank. A year later, the three removed the cover slabs of the tank, took out the parts of the skeleton, including the skull, and buried it in an adjacent compound.

While this compound was being dug up by an earthmover for the construction of a building, the skeleton parts got displaced from there without anybody’s notice. The case was investigated by a team headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police A. Ashokan and the arrests were made under the direct supervision of the Kollam City Police Commissioner, S. Satheesh Bino..

The case history

As per police records, Krishna Kumar and Roy were ganja peddlers. Sub-Inspector G. Gopakumar, while serving as in-charge of the Kollam East police station, had arrested Kumar for possessing 14 kg of ganja and Roy for being in possession of 13 kg of ganja.

When Kumar went missing, his parents and Roy raised allegations that he was picked up by Mr. Gopakumar and subjected to third degree methods as a result of which he died. There were also allegations that the body was buried somewhere in the sprawling Kollam East police station compound or dumped into the Paravur lake.

At that time several complaints were lodged against Mr. Gopakumar and his subordinates with the Police Complaints Cell, the State Human Rights Commission, higher police officers and the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. These officers had to spend good many days before those authorities giving statements to prove their innocence.

Since Mr. Gopakumar and his subordinates were key investigators in the Operation Kubera team and had also busted several ganja cartels, the allegations against them found support in different quarters, including political, and posters also came up all over the city branding Mr. Gopakumar a “killer”.

Krishna Kumar was involved in several criminal cases and had served six years in jail.

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