In a gruesome incident, a 19-year-old man was killed and the accused then carried his body and dumped it in front of the Kottayam East police station in Kerala, early on Monday, January 17. Soon, the police took the accused into custody. According to reports, the accused has been identified as Josemon, who was recently behind bars under the Kerala Anti-Social Activities Prevention Act (KAPA).
Late on Sunday, January 16, Josemon had come in an auto-rickshaw and forcefully taken Shan Babu from his residence, police said. After midnight, Babu's mother lodged a complaint about her son missing with the Kottayam East police station. Josemon had recently got out of jail and according to his bail conditions, he was supposed to present himself before the local police once a week.
Speaking to TNM, an official from the Kottayam East police station said that a case has been registered under Section 302 (Murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and that further investigation is underway to ascertain what exactly happened and the motive of the crime. The official added that the young man’s mother had approached the police station at around 1.30 am to file a missing person complaint.
Local legislator and also a former Home Minister, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, said it's unfortunate that no serious steps are being taken to end the goon menace. "The police are not doing its job in the way it should be doing it. Had they done their job cleanly, Josemon would not have got bail," said Radhakrishnan, a leader of the Indian National Congress.
With IANS inputs