Arun Anand's role in 2018 death of Thodupuzha boy's dad now under probe

Thodupuzha: The Idukki unit Crime Branch has began a probe into the complaint that Arun Anand, who allegedly murdered a seven-year-old boy by smashing his head against a wall in Thodupuzha last year, was also behind the death of the child's father.

The crime branch team exhumed the mortal remains of the child's father Biju, who died two years ago, and examined with the assistance of a forensic experts’ team.

Biju died on May 23, 2018 at his wife’s house in Udumbannoor in Idukki district. Autopsy report said he died of a cardiac arrest.

The statement given by the younger child that Biju's wife had given him milk to drink on the day of his death, raised suspicion in the case. It is suspected that she had mixed poison in the milk on the instructions of her paramour Arun Anand. Soon after Biju's death, Anjana along with her children went with Arun Anand, who is also a relative of her husband.

The investigating officials said the body parts retrieved from the grave would be subjected to intense forensic examination. Further action in the case will be taken after getting the report from forensic experts.

The crime branch officials and forensic experts had conducted a joint inspection at Biju's grave in Neyyattinkara on Friday. A team led by Crime Branch SP P K Madhu and CI T A Yunus is investigating the case.

The probe into the case was ordered after Biju's father Babu submitted a petition to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan expressing doubts about his son’s death. At the time of his death, it was said that Biju died due to cardiac arrest.

The accused Arun Anand is currently in jail. The crime branch team has also started examining telephone conversations held between Arun and Anjana within days after Biju's death.

The eldest of Biju's two sons, the 7-year-old boy was brutally assaulted by Arun at their house in Idukki district and later succumbed to his injuries.