Pappanamcode fire incident : DNA test to identify male body, cops collect evidence to confirm murder-suicide

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Fire and Rescue Service personnel douse the fire at an insurance office in Pappanamcode. Photo: Manorama

The city police probing the fire outbreak at an insurance office at Pappanamcode in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday will collect surveillance visuals from the smart city control room and tower location details of Binukumar, partner of Vaishna who died in the fire outbreak on Wednesday. This is being done to confirm whether it was a case of murder-suicide.

"What we know is that Binukumar came by bus. He did not own a two-wheeler. We have not got any visuals pointing at the office where the incident happened. Hence we are collecting visuals from other departments and tracking footage from the smart city control room. Tower location details are also being collected to verify if he was present anywhere near the scene of incident," said B V Vijay Bharath Reddy, Deputy Commissioner of Police ( Law & Order),Thiruvananthapuram.

The police said that Vaishna who is a divorcee had been living with Binukumar for the past three years. The cops have not got any documents so far to ascertain if they were legally married. It is learnt that Vaishna had complained against Binukumar for harassment. The police need to identify the body of a male which was recovered in a charred state from the office on Tuesday. Officials suspect that the body could be of Binukumar but this can be confirmed only after the DNA test. The post-mortem and inquest procedures will be completed on Wednesday. DNA samples will be collected after post-mortem, police said.

The fire broke out in the insurance office near signal junction at Pappanamcode on Tuesday noon. Eye-witnesses said that they heard a loud sound of glass shattering and fumes rising from the office. The fire force personnel found two bodies inside the office. One of the deceased was identified as Vaishna who ran the office. She has two children.

 

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