Kochi: The police on Thursday arrested four youth after the body of Arjun, a 19-year old youth missing for the past one week, was found buried in a swamp near Nettoor on Wedn-sesday.
The body was found around one km away from the Nettoor Railway Over Bridge in the deserted Kanichal area. The body was found dumped in the swamp close the Nettoor Lake tied with a stone.
The arrested are Nivin Peter (20), Rony (23), Ananthu (21) and Ajithkumar (22).
Arjun, son of M.S. Vidyan of Mannanat House in Kumbalam, was missing from July 2 and his father had registered a complaint with Panangad police on the same day.
Vidyan had alleged that the police had taken no proactive measures to investigate the case despite him mentioning the names of the possible culprits involved in the incident. He said the police started pursuing the case seriously only after he had filed a habeas corpus petition in the court on July 8.
According to the police, the youth was killed by the accused in revenge for the death of the brother of one of the accused in a case in a two-wheeler accident.
Ajrun was traveling in the two-wheeler along with the brother of one of the accused and the vehicle met with an accident at Kalamasserry. The brother of the accused was killed in the accident while Arjun suffered grave injuries. The brother of the deceased was harbouring revenge against Arjun as he believed that he was responsible for the accident and that led to the killing.
According to the police the accused lured Arjun on the night of July 2 saying their vehicle had run out of fuel, beat him to death and dumped the body in the swamp. The killing was carried out within two hours after Arjun was called out from his home on the night of July 2.
The police said Rony and Nivin were involved in Ganja-related cases.
The police denied the charges of laxity in investigation and said the culprits misled the probe team by abandoning the mobile phone of the victim in an inter-state truck. The police team probing the case was hoping that Arjun was alive by tracking the mobile phone signals from different places.
Congress workers held a protest march on Wednesday from Madavana Jn to Panangad police station alleging the failure of the police to probe the missing case despite the relatives mentioning names of the possible culprits.
