The Crime Branch team, investigating the alleged illegalities behind the transfer of property of the Koodathil family in Karamana and the circumstances surrounding the deaths of seven family members, has been expanded.
Led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crimes) Mohammed Arif, the special investigation team comprises 10 officers with M.S. Santhosh, Assistant Commissioner, Crime Detachment, designated the investigation officer. Meanwhile, the Karamana police have arraigned 12 people as accused in the case that has been registered into allegations of grabbing the property of the Koodathil family. The case was registered on the basis of a complaint by Prasannakumari, a relative of the last deceased Jayamadhavan Nair, whose will was allegedly forged by those accused.
The former caretaker of the family, Raveendran Nair, has been arraigned as the prime accused in the case. Bringing government officials under a cloud of suspicion, former Wayanad District Collector Mohandas, whose wife is Jayamadhavan’s distant relative, is the tenth accused in the case. The complainant had alleged that Mohandas had also illegally taken possession of a portion of the family’s ancestral property. The accused have been charged under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code that pertained to criminal conspiracy, cheating and criminal intimidation. The police are expected to seek the assistance of the Revenue Department to ascertain the authenticity of the property deeds. The investigation team has also begun to record the statements of those involved in the case.
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Seven members dead
Seven members of the Koodathil family in Kalady reportedly died over a period of 26 years from 1991. The deceased included Gopinathan Nair, his wife Sumukhi Amma, their children Jayabalakrishnan, Jayaprakash, Jayasree and Gopinathan’s nephews Unnikrishnan Nair and Jayamadhavan, the last of who died in April 2017.