Kannur: Shyamjith, who was arrested for killing Vishnupriya in Panoor on Saturday, had planned to murder the young woman's male friend because he suspected the two were in a relationship, say police.
Shyamjith told police that he had kept the weapons clean to use them for the second murder. He had also planned to surrender after that, police claimed.
Police caught the accused within three hours of Vishnupriya's murder.
When the cops checked Vishnupriya's phone, they realised that she had last spoken to a friend. During further investigation, the police came to know that Shyamjith reached home when Vishnupriya was talking on the phone to her male friend.
She hung up the phone saying Shyamjith has come, the friend told the police.
It was Vishnupriya's relative who saw the body first. Some people had gathered for a funeral at her father's house nearby. According to police, the murder took place when Vishnupriya came home from there to change her clothes.
"Shyamjith carefully planned the murder. He was carrying a hammer, knife and rope when he reached Vishnupriya's house. While he bought the hammer and rope from a shop, he made the double-edged knife himself. Shyamjith ensured that Vishnupriya would be injured grievously if at all the murder attempt failed," said police.
The accused originally intended to murder Vishnupriya using a cutting machine, which he bought online days ago, revealed police. "He watched YouTube videos on how to use the machine and bought the batteries and power bank required to run it beforehand. However, he dropped the plan when he encountered certain technical glitches with the device," said police.
The strand of curly hair found in Shyamjith's bag was picked up from a barber shop and was an attempt by the accused to sabotage the probe.
There were a total of 18 wounds on Vishnupriya's body. Around 75 per cent of her neck had been severed from her torso, said police.
