The probe into the recovery of skeletal remains from a plastic barrel near Kumbalam appears to be heading for yet another twist. The police are now probing the alleged involvement of a ‘quotation’ racket behind the murder of Sakunthala and that of another man, whose body was found in a sack from the backwaters near Netoor.
Though investigations revealed that Sakunthala was murdered by T.M. Sajith, a native of Eroor who committed suicide soon after the recovery of the skeleton, the police are probing the role of a Thriuvankulam-based quotation racket behind both the cases.
The gang is led by a woman, in whose shop Sakunthala’s daughter Aswathy was working. Sakunthala had over ₹6 lakh in her account, received as accident compensation and from the sale of land. Sources said that money was missing from the bank. The police are awaiting the court’s permission to subject Aswathy to a polygraph test to verify her statements.
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The investigation team is also probing whether the same gang was involved in the murder of a youth whose body was recovered from the Netoor lake. “His body too was found stacked inside a sack filled with bricks, similar to the manner in which the body of Sakunthala was found in the plastic drum,” they said.