A 75-year-old man was arrested on Tuesday, July 11 by the Crime Branch in Kerala for killing his wife 17 years ago. According to police investigators, Janardhanan Nair, a retired postmaster, killed his wife Rema Devi because of suspicions regarding an alleged affair. Rema Devi (50) was found dead on May 26, 2006, at her house in Pullad village in Pathanamthitta district.
A postmortem report said she was hacked to death using a sharp object. Neighbours had found her body in a decapitated state. Initially the case was investigated by Koyipram police. A day after Rema Devi was murdered, their neighbour Chudala Muthu, a migrant labourer from Tamil Nadu and a woman who lived with him went missing. Police and the people around thought Muthu was behind the murder. Police also recovered a watch, torch and a towel of Muthu near the victim’s house.
“Initially the local police as well as the crime branch were very sure about the culprit and the search was only to find him. They conducted searches everywhere and even gave look out notices to find the person,” Sunil Raj, Crime Branch Inspector, who led the investigation told TNM.
Police were not able to find Muthu. Following which an action council was formed by the people around who organised protests asking to find the accused at the earliest. In 2007, Janardhanan Nair filed a petition in Kerala High Court asking to intervene in the investigation. The Kerala government handed over the case to the Crime Branch. The investigation agency too considered Muthu as the only suspect.
“Two years later in 2008, a forensic report proved that the hair samples found on Rema Devi’s hands belonged to Janardhanan Nair. Still no one doubted him as the investigation revolved around Muthu’s whereabouts,” the police officer said. The case turned cold as the police were not able to trace Muthu. As per reports, Janardhanan Nair even helped police by providing vehicles and other financial help for travelling to Tamil Nadu to find Muthu.
A new Crime Branch team took up the investigation a year ago. They were able to find the woman who was staying with Muthu from Ambasamudram in Tirunelveli. “From her statements we were forced to revisit the case once more. We cross verified all her statements and we came to the conclusion that Muthu did not have any relation with the crime. Then we took statements from Janardhanan multiple times. We could draw many contradictions in his statements,” Sunil Raj said.
As per Janardhanan’s initial statement, the door was locked from inside when he reached home. He opened it through a ventilator and entered inside where he saw Rema Devi dead. He claimed that the door could be opened and locked through a ventilator from outside.
“The door was locked from inside and there was a ventilator near it. Earlier it was believed that the murderer locked the door through the ventilator and escaped. We found that the lock can be opened through a ventilator but can't be locked through it. It can be locked only from inside. The evidence against Muthu was planted by Janardhanan,” the officer said. He said that Janardhanan tried his best to project the migrant worker as the suspected murderer. According to the officer, Janardhanan Nair confessed to the crime while they questioned him. A year after the murder Janardhanan Nair had sold the house and property and shifted to Aranmula.
P Unnikrishnan who was part of the action council told TNM that they had no doubts on Janardhanan Nair. “We thought it was Muthu who did the crime and only his arrest was remaining. We never expected Janardhanan to be the perpetrator,” he said.