Kerala businessman, wife killed brutally; migrant worker from Assam detained

Kottayam, April 22 (IANS) A leading businessman and his wife were found brutally murdered in their house in Kerala's Kottayam on Tuesday, said officials here, adding that one suspect has been taken into custody.

The suspect is a migrant labourer, identified as Amit from Assam. He was previously employed by the couple.

The couple, Vijayakumar and his wife Meera, owned a plush state-of-the-art convention centre besides other business ventures.

The housemaid, who arrived as usual on Tuesday morning, found things amiss inside the house and also found the back door open. After not getting a response from the owners, she immediately alerted the neighbours, who informed the police.

Upon arrival, the police found the couple dead. Their bodies were found in two different rooms, and the police said that the killer used an axe to kill them.

Both bodies were found disrobed and in a pool of blood. The axe was also recovered from the house.

High-level Kottayam district police officials have reached the house, and the probe has started.

Local legislator Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said the inquest is going on. “It was a brutal murder using weapons. One migrant labourer is presently identified as the villain. Probe will be revealed if there were one or more people involved. The hard disk of the CCTV in the house has been found missing. We are waiting for the probe, and the people of the locality have pledged their full support to the police,” said Radhakrishnan.

Incidentally, Vijayakumar had terminated the service of Amit in November. Vijayakumar had filed a complaint after a few things went missing from his house.

Amit was arrested and was in jail for the burglary incident.

The police, however, are tight-lipped about the details of the probe and have commenced their investigations.

“There was a case also previously against the migrant labourer. The missing hard disk makes it very clear, and also the pet dog was silent, so it can be assumed this crime was done by someone familiar with the house,” added Radhakrishnan, a former Home Minister.

Incidentally, seven years back, Vijayakumar’s son Gautam’s dead body was found mutilated by the side of the railway track in the district.

Vijayakumar then approached the Kerala High Court and sought a CBI probe, and it was just last month that the Court ordered a CBI probe. The Thiruvananthapuram CBI unit had just commenced its probe.

The police, after their preliminary probe, have more or less ruled out that the murder was not committed as part of a burglary, as the gold ornaments of the two deceased have not gone missing, nor has the home been ransacked.

Hence, the police have started to see if there is any link between the death of his son and the brutal murder of the parents.

State Minister for Ports and Cooperation V.N. Vasavan, who hails from Kottayam, said the way the murder was committed was very cruel. “One person was arrested based on a complaint by Vijayakumar in the past after a mobile phone was stolen,” said Vasavan.

--IANS

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