Alappuzha: Mannanchery police on Thursday nabbed Mathews and Sharmila, accused in the Subhadra murder case, from Manipal in Udupi. They were hiding in the house of Sharmila's friend. Police are currently questioning them and will be brought to Kerala later. Subhadra (73), whose body was found at Korthussery in Kalavoor in Alappuzha, was strangled to death, police said. The accused are being interrogated at present. Their attempt to pawn the gold they stole from Subhadra proved crucial in tracing them.
A resident of ‘Sivakripa’ at Karithala Road, near Ernakulam South railway station (Ernakulam Junction), Subhadra, was found buried on the premises of a house at Kalavoor here. Mathews (Nidhin), who is from Pallipparambil in Kattoor, and his wife Sharmila, from Udupi in Karnataka, stayed in the house on rent. They had gone missing. Police suspect the couple allegedly murdered Subhadra to obtain her gold ornaments. Subhadra’s body was identified by her sons Radhakrishnan and Rajesh. She used to wear a knee bandage, which helped her sons identify the body.
Early in August, Subhadra’s son Radhakrishnan filed a missing complaint with the police in Ernakulam after she went incommunicado. On tracing her phone calls, the police noticed that Subhadra had reached Kalavoor in Alappuzha. CCTV visuals of Subhadra walking along with another woman on August 4 were also obtained from Ernakulam South. Even though the woman accompanying Subhadra was identified as Sharmila, the police found that her rented house in Kalavoor was locked. A cadaver dog later pointed out Subhadra’s buried body on the compound of the house.
