The interrogation of three people who were arrested by the Vizhinjam police for the alleged murder of an elderly woman has unravelled the mystery that surrounded the death of a minor girl in Kovalam a year ago.
The Vizhinjam police had achieved the breakthrough after two of the accused, Rafeeqa Beevi and her son Shafeeque, confessed to have murdered the girl who hailed from Muttakkad that comes under the Kovalam police station limits.
The victim was found lying in a pool of blood in her house on January 13 last when her parents were away. The accused mother-son duo used to live behind their house for two years. According to the police, they claimed Shafeeque used to sexually harass the minor girl.
They had decided to murder her after she threatened to divulge such instances to her parents. On the day of the murder, Rafeeqa banged the victim’s head on the wall after which Shafeeque bludgeoned her using a hammer. The weapon they had used for the murder is suspected to be the same they purportedly used on 71-year-old Santhakumari whose body was found in the attic of a rented house in Mulloor late Friday.
Following the incident in Muttakkad, Rafeeqa and Shafeeque vacated their house and shifted to Mulloor to evade police scrutiny.
Some headway
The Kovalam police, which had been groping in the dark ever since, have been accused of pinning the blame of the crime on the victim’s parents.
The Vizhinjam police had chanced upon the crucial information after a neighbour claimed to have overheard an argument that Rafeeqa had with Al Ameen, another co-accused in the Santhakumari murder case.
The findings would be handed over to the Kovalam police that had registered the case, Vizhinjam station house officer Prajeesh Sasi said.
