Kovalam murder: one held

The City police on Tuesday took into custody Arogyadas, 38, from Chennai on charges of aiding a newspaper agent in Kovalam in the murder of the latter’s brother and to dump the body in the sea.

According to the police, Arogyadas was the second accused in the murder of Shaji, 35, whose body was washed ashore in a gunny bag at Irayimmanthura, near Pulluvila, on August 18. The police had later found that Shaji was killed by his brother Satheesh, 37.

The siblings were at loggerheads for long on account of Shaji’s drunken ways and also because he had allegedly assaulted Satheesh’s wife, an incident for which he was arrested a few months before his death. Satheesh, the police said, had sought the help of Arogyadas to summon Shaji to a resort in Kovalam on the pretext of smoothing out their differences, but where an argument resulted in the murder of Shaji. The two then bundled the body into a gunny bag, used a rented car to take it to Vizhinjam and dumped the body in the sea.

Arogyadas, who was working in the UAE, had gone absconding soon after the role of Satheesh in the murder came to light.

The police had traced him to a hideout near Chennai with the help of mobile tower signals.

He would be produced before court on Wednesday, the police said.