Alappuzha: The police here on Friday recorded the arrest of the couple over the murder of 73-year-old Subhadra, a native of Kochi. Talking to the media, Alappuzha district police chief MP Mohanachandran said that Nithin alias Mathew and his wife Sharmila murdered the elderly woman for financial gains. He also added that involvement of no others was found in the murder during the initial probe. The duo would be taken for evidence collection only after obtaining their custody from the court, said the official.

The body of the missing woman, Subhadra, was found in the backyard of the couple's rental home near Mannancherry here on September 10. The woman had gone missing on August 4 and her son had filed a complaint with the police in Kadavanthra at Kochi. Police suspect that the woman was killed on August 7. The investigation into her disappearance revealed that she had travelled to Mannancherry and that she was living with the accused couple, Mathews from Alappuzha's Kattoor and Udupi native Sharmila. Later, it was found that the accused couple in their thirties was absconding.

As gold ornaments of Subhadra were missing from the body, police confirmed that she was murdered for financial gain. The couple also confessed to the crime.

Police registered a case into the missing of Subhadra on August 7 after receiving a complaint from her son. As police started the probe, Mathew and Sharmila fled to Udupi in Karnataka from their house in Alappuzha's Kalavoor.

It is learnt that a UPI transaction made by the accused at a private financial firm in Udupi helped the police trace their location. Though their phones were switched off, police tracked their movements including a transaction of Rs 60,000 to their bank account and cash withdrawal from an ATM in Udupi. When the cops were searching for them in Karnataka, the duo reached Kochi. Amid the probe, police also circulated the photos of the couple as suspects in the murder case. Following this, they tried to flee from their hideout in Kochi and landed in the police net en route to Karnataka.