Daylight murder: Man accused of killing plant nursery employee a serial killer?
![ambalamukk-murder Vineetha Vijayan (left), Rajendran (centre) and Thiruvananthapuram City police commissioner Sparjan Kumar.](https://img.onmanorama.com/content/dam/mm/en/kerala/top-news/images/2022/2/11/ambalamukk-murder.jpg?w=1120&h=583)
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The Tamil Nadu native who has been arrested for murdering an employee of a plant nursery at Ambalamukku in Thiruvananthapuram is suspected to be a serial murderer who is said to have killed a customs officer and his wife in 2014. This was revealed by Thiruvananthapuram City police commissioner Sparjan Kumar on Friday.
"We gather that he is a history-sheeter, with his name in the rowdy list (in Tamil Nadu)," the City Police commissioner said. The accused, Suresh alias Rajendran, had even been in jail for one-and-a-half years. He seems to have sneaked out of Tamil Nadu before the trial in the twin murder could begin.
The Commissioner said that Rajendran had came to Thiruvananthapuram last December and secured work as a supplier and helper in a hotel.
The murder had taken place just after noon on February 6, Sunday. The man is said to have entered the nursery (Tabs Green Tech Agri Clinic), which was deserted except for the lone employee, Vineetha. According to the Commissioner, Rajendran attempted to snatch the necklace and when she resisted, pulled out his knife and stabbed her repeatedly on the neck. "Being a person with criminal behaviour, we understand that he always carries a knife with him," the commissioner said.
The post-mortem report had found five deep knife wounds on Vineetha's neck. Forensic examination and the autopsy, too, had found signs of struggle.
The violent struggle did not attract much attention as it was a semi-lockdown day and the city thoroughfares were largely free of pedestrians and motorists. The police commissioner said that the accused was having his day off and was scouting around in search of some activity to satisfy his violent urges.
"Robbery was his motive," the commissioner said. The necklace, which Vineetha's relatives said she had on her, was missing. However, the Rs 25,000 her relatives said she was carrying with her was not stolen. The Rs 50,000 in the drawer of the shop was also untouched.
It is also said that Rajendran had sat at the entrance of the shop for at least five minutes before leaving. "Perhaps he wanted to check whether Vineetha was dead," a police source said.
It was CCTV footage that led to Rajendran. The investigators had pieced together visuals from various CCTV sources, from various points in the capital city. One had Rajendran walking towards the nursery by around 11:30am on February 6, others had the same person hitchhiking a two-wheeler ride and travelling in an autorickshaw, all on the same day.
A CCTV grab of a masked Rajendran riding pillion on a scooter and another of him walking were published in newspapers and news channels. In one, his closely cropped hair could be seen. In another he has a kind of skull cap on him.
A sketch of the suspect with closely cropped hair and an oval-shaped face was also released by the police. An autorickshaw driver had told the police that a Tamil native who resembled the sketch, and with a cut on his hand, had rode in his auto rickshaw on February 6. It was this information that prompted the police to look for a man with a deep gash on his hand.
Rajendran's co-workers were aware of the cut. The accused had told them that the cut happened when he was grating the coconut. One of them, seeing the sketch, informed the police. It also helped that the hotel owner had kept Rajendran's Aadhar card in his custody. The sketch and the Aadhar card image matched. The police gathered his whereabouts and Rajendran was nabbed from Tamil Nadu.
The police commissioner, however, said that it was not yet clear whether Rajendran had spotted the necklace-adorned Vineetha earlier and had chosen the silent Sunday to execute his plan. "We are questioning him," he said. He also said that Rajendran had confessed to the crime. A police source said that Rajendran had still not told the police where he had hidden the necklace or whether he had already sold it.
The commissioner said that Rajendran had left for Tamil Nadu the day after the crime.