Thiruvananthapuram, October 27 (BPNS)
The police team probing the Panoor murder case, in which a 23-year-old woman got allegedly murdered over suspicion of an affair, has started to collect evidence. On Thursday, Thalassery Chief Judicial Magistrate Court sent the accused M Shyamjith to three days of police custody. It is expected that the police will conduct the evidence collection at the victim’s (Vishnupriya) house with the accused on Friday.
It was on October 22 that Shyamjith hacked Vishnupriya to death at her house.
“We had requested four days of custody. But got three. We had collected evidence from the shop in Koothuparambu from where the accused had brought weapons for the murder. The shopkeeper had identified Shyamjith. He will also be brought to the hotel where he quarreled with Vishnupriya and her friend,” said a police officer.
Earlier, the police had stated that Syamjith of Koothuparambu had attacked the girl with a knife and a hammer. Syamjith and Vishnupriya were said to be in a relationship and the latter at some point decided to move on for unknown reasons. Syamjith who was irked by this decision also had the suspicion that she is having a relationship with a Ponnani native.
According to local reports, Syamjith had entered the house of the victim via the backdoor, barged into her room, and got into an argument. Then he attacked her with the weapons he carried to death. It is learned that the accused had made sure that there was no one in the house except Vishnupriya.
“It was around 12 pm that the girl was found in a pool of blood inside her room. She had grievous injuries. As a result of the hacking serious injury, marks were there on her hands, neck, and legs. A total of 18 injury marks were there on her body. The attack was committed with the intention to kill ,” said the police then.
The police were able to zero in on the culprit within hours after the incident because of eyewitness accounts and a mobile tower location-based investigation.
“The locals had told us that they spotted a man wearing a t-shirt and a cap near her house. We then checked the CCTV camera footage and identified the man. Then we put his mobile number under surveillance, spotted the tower location, and identified his place,” said a policeman who is part of the investigation team.
It is also said that just before the attack happened Vishnupriya was talking to the Ponnani native and she uttered ‘Shyamjith’ and then the call ended. The Ponnani native then alerted the police as well as her family members. But to no avail.
Even after police took Shyamjith into custody he was found to be a cool-headed one. At the time of arrest, he was helping his father in his hotel. Without any stress, he accepted the crime and showed the police the weapons he used for the murder, the clothes he was wearing at the time of the incident, and others.
According to police, Shyamjith had planned to murder the Ponnani native first.
Vishnupriya was working as a lab assistant at a private medical lab in Panoor. It was only four days ago that Vishnupriya’s grandmother died.
