Thiruvananthapuram: The probe into the murder of a young woman, whose decomposed body was found buried in a rubber plantation at Thattanmukk in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram district, has thrown more light on the crime. The role of an army man with whom she reportedly had an affair and his aides are under a cloud over the crime that has shocked this rural outback of Kerala's capital city. The crime came to light the other day after the body of Rakhi Mol was recovered from the land adjacent to the soldier's plot a month after she went missing.
On receiving the autopsy report, the police stated that Rakhi Mol, was strangulated. She was throttled using a shawl or rope, they said.
The murder took place near the yard where the body of the 30-year-old native of Puthankada in Kollam was found. The pit for laying the body had been dug out earlier. It is likely she was murdered in a car and its engine was revved up to drown out the noise at the time of the crime, the police added.
Rakhi, daughter of Rajan of Joybhavan House at Poovar, Puthenkada, had gone missing a month ago. She was employed at a cable company in Ernakulam district.
Her body was dug out from the rubber plantation adjacent to Adarsh Bhavan, the house of Akhil S Nair, an army soldier.
Akhil and his brother, Rahul are the key suspects in the case.
Soured affair
The murder was a fallout of a romantic relationship gone sour, the police said. Akhil and Rakhi came into contact with each other through a missed call and established a relationship six years ago.
The couple were involved in frequent spats after Akhil's wedding was fixed with another woman. Rakhi however, was adamant on living with Akhil. She even met his fiance and requested her to withdraw from the alliance.
Akhil's statement
Meanwhile, Akhil has denied the charges and said that he had no intention of absconding. “I'm currently at an army camp in Ladakh. I'll present myself to the police as soon as I reach Kerala. I've been granted leave,”Akhil said over phone to the media persons who had gathered at his house to meet his father Rajappan Nair (Maniyan).
Akhil confirmed that he had met Rakhi on June 21. He dropped her at Dhanuvachapuram as per her request. “I'm 25 years of age. Rakhi was elder to me by five years. She was very persuasive despite my rejection. If I wanted to murder her, I could have done so in the past. It is foolish to sacrifice my job and live in jail for the rest of my life. I boarded Rajdhani Express on June 27 evening, reached Delhi on June 29 and reported to my unit,” Akhil said.
Akhil has not rejoined work
The police confirmed that Akhil has not rejoined work yet. The army sources have revealed that he has not reported to his superiors after the leave. The police has, therefore, not taken his statement that he is at a Ladakh army camp at face value.
Mobile phone is key
The mobile phone proved vital in cracking the case. Rakhi, who was working in Ernakulam had told her relatives that she was going to her office when she had left her home. When she didn't return, they contacted her office, but were told she had not reached there. Following this, her father Rajan filed a complaint with the Poovar police.
The Poovar police examined her mobile phone details. The phone was found switched off. On collecteing all call details, they monitored a few numbers with whom Rakhi was frequently in touch with and collected their addresses. One of the addresses was at Amboori.
The last call that Rakhi received was from an Amboori native. Besides, the last tower location was also in Amboori. The phone went dead after that, forcing the police to believe that she was in the area.
Following this they carried out a secret inquiry in the area. They found that Akhil had returned to his workplace in Delhi. They also found that most of the calls from Akhil's phone had gone to Adarsh, Akhil's friend and neighbour. He was kept under watch.
Adarsh who was recuperating after a surgery admitted to the murder of Rakhi when the cops questioned him and later showed them the place where she was buried.
The month-old decomposed body of the woman was then found buried in the backyard of a rubber plantation near Akhil's plot at Amboori, near Poovar in Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram district on Wednesday. Her body was in advanced stages of decomposition when it was dug outAkhil was constructing a house on his plot nearby.
The murder, which appeared to be meticulously planned, was allegedly carried out by Akhil, his brother Rahul, and friend Adarsh. The police suspect that Akhil’s elder brother, a freelance photographer, was present when the two reached his house. Rahul has been absconding ever since an FIR was registered in the case.
After strangling Rakhi to death, the accused inserted her sim card into another phone and sent messages to her relatives saying that she was eloping with a man hailing from Kollam, police said.
The investigation team includes Neyyattinkara DySP Anilkumar, Poovar CI Rajeev and SI Sajeev.