The police have arrested a 24-year-old for pouring petrol on two women at Panampilly Nagar here on March 14.
Manu, a resident of Thachambara in Palakkad, had fled abroad after the incident. The police had sought the help of the Ministry of External Affairs to bring back the accused. He was arrested from the Kochi airport. The youth had to abandon his plan to set the women ablaze after they began shouting immediately after he poured petrol over them.
Investigating officials said the accused carried out the attack after one of the women rejected his proposal. Both were known to each other for five years. The accused, who was working abroad, had visited the place where the woman was working in January. He left for his workplace after the woman rejected his proposal again. Without informing his family members, he reached Kochi after taking leave for five days to carry out the attack. After the incident, he fled to Bengaluru via train and from there he went abroad.
Twelve teams of the police, forensic and cyber personnel were actively pursuing the case. About 200 persons close to the woman were interrogated as part of the investigation.
The examination of the CCTV footage from the woman’s workplace to her place of stay helped identify the accused.
The police said the assailant had travelled to Coimbatore from Thiruvananthapuram on March 11. He hired a motorbike from Coimbatore and collected petrol from a pump near Vadakancherry en route to Ernakulam.
He took a room in a lodge near the KSRTC bus station and confirmed the presence of the woman in her office. His plans to carry out the attack the next day failed. However, he followed the women from their place of residence to the office from the morning and carried out the attack near a busy shopping complex at Panampilly Nagar around 7.40 p.m.
