In a development in the Palakkad murder case, where a 27-year-old man was killed allegedly for marrying a dominant caste woman, the police on Sunday collected evidence and retrived weapons used in the crime. The weapons, a dagger and an iron rod, were retrieved from the houses of the two accused persons, the father and uncle of murdered Aneesh’s wife. It was on Friday that Aneesh, a painter from Thenkurissi in Palakkad, was stabbed and killed allegedly by his wife Haritha’s father and uncle. The couple had married three months ago but Haritha’s family, belonging to a dominant caste, was reported to be against the wedding. The murder is suspected to be a case of caste killing.
The accused persons, Aneesh’s father-in-law Prabhu Kumar and his wife’s uncle Suresh, had been arrested by the police on Saturday. On Sunday morning, police officials first took the accused persons to the spot in Thenkurissi where Aneesh was killed. According to Aneesh’s friend and witness who was with him during the incident, Aneesh was riding a bike when he was beaten down using an iron rod and was stabbed to death.
Following evidence collection at the spot, police raided the houses of the accused persons. A large dagger was retrieved from first accused Suresh’s house. While an iron pipe used to hit Aneesh down, was confiscated from the premises of his father-in-law Prabhu Kumar’s house.
“We have seized the dagger they used to stab him from Suresh’s house. The dress and the footwear that he wore during the time was kept in a plastic cover and was hidden in his house. That is also retrieved. An iron pipe was seized from the second accused Prabhu’s house,” Deputy Superintendent of Alathur Devassia KM told the media.
Meanwhile, he also added that it can only be confirmed whether it is a case of caste killing after taking statements from Aneesh’s wife.
Watch video of evidence collection
Aneesh belonged to the Kollan community, which comes under Other Backward Classes (OBC) in Kerala and Haritha belongs to a dominant caste (Pillai). Aneesh’s family has also now raised allegations that after the wedding, the couple were threatened by Haritha’s grandfather and father saying that they won’t be allowed to live together for more than 90 days.