Idukki murder: Police exhume skeletal remains during search inside house

Idukki: In a major turning point in the probe into the Idukki double murder case, police have recovered the skeletal remains of a person from the rented house of the deceased Vijayan, the elderly man who was bludgeoned to death by accused Nitheesh.
The skeletal remains, believed to be of Vijayan, was found folded inside a carton. According to the officers, a DNA test would be conducted to confirm the identity of the human remains. 

A pair of pants and a belt were found at the spot where the body was buried. The police noticed the clothes when the workers dug inside the room of the house at a depth of five feet. At one time, police doubted Nitheesh's claim and felt they would not be able to find the despite digging deep. The skeletal remains will be taken to Idukki Government Medical College Hospital for post-mortem, police sources said.

Manorama News reported that police recovered a hammer that was used by the accused to murder Vijayan (57) from the house at Kakkattukada. The probe team is yet to confirm whether it was the murder weapon. Apart from Nitheesh, Vijayan's son Vishnu and son Suma are also booked in the murder case. 

In his statement to police during the interrogation on Saturday, Nitheesh confessed to the killing of Vijayan with a hammer and buried his body inside their rented house with the help of Vishnu and his mother Suma.
"We suspect that this happened in August 2023," police said.

Nitheesh, a priest by profession, reportedly controlled Vijayan and his family. He convinced the family that Vijayan's daughter, who has a disability, possessed some supernatural powers and directed them to cut their contact with the society. As directed by Nitheesh, the family used to shift houses one after the other. 

Talking to Manorama News, a Panchayat member pointed out that police recovered evidence of tantric rituals at the house. As per the FIR, Nitheesh and Vijayan killed the newborn child of Vijayan's daughter to save the family's honour. It is learnt that the family buried the child's body at a cowshed in their old house at Kattappana Sagara junction.

Meanwhile, Vijayan's neighbours claimed that they didn't know about the two women inside the house. Police reportedly found Vijayan's wife and daughter inside the house when they reached there as part of a probe into a theft case. 

The police stumbled upon the twin murders while investigating a routine case of theft at a local store in which they arrested Nitheesh (31) and Vishnu (27) on March 2. Police said that they realised things were not adding up as the family members revealed that Vijayan was missing for many months.
(With PTI inputs)