Thiruvananthapuram: The Vizhinjam police arrested three accused for allegedly murdering their 71-year-old neighbour Santhakumari, here for gain on Sunday. During interrogation, the police informed that the three accused revealed that the trio was involved in the murder of a 14-year-old girl from Muttakkad in Thiruvananthapuram last year after an illicit relationship.
The accused has been identified as Rafeeqa Beevi(50), a native of Vizhinjam, her son Shafeeq(23) and alleged Rafeeqa Beevi's boyfriend Al Ameen(26), a resident of Kozhikode.
On Saturday, the son of the owner of the house, where three accused was staying, and his friends saw blood dripping to the floor from the attic indicating the possible presence of a body there, and immediately informed the police, the police said. "The body was hidden in the attic of the house and we were unable to recover the corpse at night. We thought it was Beevi's body as Ameen and Shafeeq were missing. Later, we got a missing complaint filed by a neighbour saying his mother was missing," the police said.
Later, the police identified the body as Shanthakumari's and traced the three to Kazhakoottam and took them into custody. The three accused confessed that they killed the 71-year-old neighbour and stole her ornaments. "During the course of interrogation, we received information that they were involved in another murder too. Upon interrogating further, they confessed to having killed a 14-year-old girl near Kovalam, where the trio was residing earlier," the police said.
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Police said the Shafeeq was having an illicit relationship with the girl and during a scuffle that broke out between Beevi and the girl, the woman slammed the 14-year-old's head onto a wall and killed her. Sources said the year-old murder case was pending as there were no leads regarding the murder.
When the deceased parents found her lying unconscious, they admitted her to the hospital. As a neighbour, Rafeeqa Beevi was active in taking her to hospital and later mourned after her death in the house. The accused confessed to the police that "the same hammer used to kill Shanthakumari was also used to kill the girl."
Vizhinjam police said that, "further comprehensive information about the incident could be shared after thoroughly interrogating the accused arrested in connection of murder case." Meanwhile, the accused in the murder of Shanthakumari would be produced before the Neyyattinkara Magistrate's court.
(With agency inputs)
