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Police start evidence collection in girl murder case

April 20, 2021 08:19 pm | Updated 08:19 pm IST - Kochi

Father taken to flat, Muttar River from where her body was found

After having played hardball in an initial couple of days since his arrest when he allegedly gave conflicting statements, Sanu Mohan, the man who is suspected to have murdered his 13-year-old daughter and fled, is reportedly gradually falling in line and cooperating with the investigation.

During the press conference held on Monday, a day after his arrest from Karwar in Karnataka, C.H. Nagaraju, District Police Chief (Kochi city) said that the accused was contradicting his own statements frequently.

“We are in a rush to complete the collection of evidence within the State and outside before his custody period ends in 10 days. We will have to recreate his entire trail. We are looking into collecting material evidence as well to bolster our case,” said Mr. Nagaraju. The police are also looking into a credible explanation for the presence of alcohol content found inside the body of the girl.

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On Tuesday, the accused was taken to local places, including his flat at Kangarapady and Muttar River from where his daughter’s body was found after getting drowned. As per his statement, the teenage girl was smothered inside the apartment before being taken covered with a bed sheet to the river in his car where she was dropped into the water while she reportedly was still alive.

The evidence collection at the apartment lasted over an hour when the accused reportedly detailed the sequence of events to the police.

Later in the afternoon, the investigation team took him to the river. He reportedly showed them the place near the regulator-cum-bridge where he had parked his car and the point where he allegedly dropped his daughter in the water.

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No digital trail

Though he had not left any digital trail since he had gone into hiding, the police are trying to recover digital devices, including mobile phones, that he had used previously for vital clues. Reportedly, one such mobile has already been recovered.

The police remain steadfast in the finding that no outsider was involved and that the accused did it all alone. Plans are now afoot to collect a fresh statement of the wife of the accused, which may either take place simultaneously or after his custody period. The police said that the accused was mentally stable.

Having absconded almost a month ago soon after which his daughter was found drowned, the police had a tough time tracking him down. The breakthrough came when the police got hold of the CCTV footage of the accused from the temple town of Kollur on Friday night.

It emerged that he had left the hotel he was staying in there without footing the bill following which the police deployed teams in multiple cities and eventually nabbed him.

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