The police team probing the recovery of skeletal remains of a woman stuffed inside a plastic barrel at Kumbalam has finally identified those involved in the crime.

Official sources said that the victim, Shakunthala, 54, was murdered by T.M. Sajith, a native of Eroor, who committed suicide in Janaury this year. They added that the woman used to blackmail Sajith over his alleged illicit relationship with her daughter, leading to the crime.

“The woman had threatened Sajith that she would reveal his relationship with her daughter to his wife. Subsequently, he decided to eliminate her, and the crime is believed to have been committed in September 2016,” officials said.

They added that Sajith had stuffed the body inside the barrel, which was arranged with the help of his friend. The accused later contracted five others to dump the barrel in the Kochi backwaters. “They were told that the barrel contained bones and skulls of animals for making iridium. It was transported to Kumbalam on a mini-truck and was dumped at an isolated location in the dead of the night,” officials said.

The police are now looking to subject the victim’s daughter to polygraph test and have approached the court to this effect. A police team comprising senior officers of the Kochi city police had earlier subjected her to interrogation.

The barrel was found adrift in the Kochi backwaters on January 8 this year. Some hair strands and bits and pieces of clothes were also found in the barrel filled with concrete mix.

The recovery of a 6.5-cm Malleolar screw from the ankle joint of the left foot of the body proved to be the turning point in the investigation. During the probe, the police collected details of those who had undergone surgery involving Malleolar screw technology in the State over the past couple of years and traced all of them, except the woman from Udayamperoor, who had remained incommunicado.

Following a tip-off that the woman had gone to Mumbai, a police team was despatched to trace her whereabouts. They, however, returned after a few weeks as the woman remained untraceable.

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Printable version | Sep 22, 2022 11:10:52 pm | https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/finally-police-unravel-murder-mystery/article23245971.ece