Kochi: After identifying the murdered woman to be one Shakunthala of Udayamperoor, the Kochi police cracked the case regarding recovery of skeleton found inside a plastic drum at Kumbalam in January last when its probe revealed that the 54-year-old woman was murdered by her daughter’s paramour.
“Our probe revealed she was murdered by one T.M. Sajith, a native of Eroor, who committed suicide in January this year. The victim threatening to reveal the accused’s illicit affair with her daughter to Sajith’s wife was the provocation for the murder,” official sources said.
Sajith murdered Shakunthala at a rented house in Eruveli in 2016 end and concealed the body in a drum. He then filled it with concrete and bricks before dumping it on the banks of Kumbalam lake with the help of four others after making them believe that it contained waste.
On January eight last, cops broke open a drum recovered from the river bank along a vacant plot at Kumbalam near the Aroor-Edapally bypass and were shocked to find skeleton inside when they broke open the concrete mix. Forensic tests revealed the skeleton to be that of a woman.
Initial investigation reached a dead end, however, recovery of a 6.5 cm malleolar screw from the skeleton provided the breakthrough. A probe found only six persons had availed of the treatment for leg fracture using the screw from a hospital in Trippunith-ura. Though the cops managed to trace five others, a woman who availed of the treatment was missing.
“It was Shakunthala who went missing from September 2016. The DNA sample of her husband Damodharan, a native of Udayamperoor, and daughter Aswathi revealed that the skeleton was that of Shakunthala,” the sources said.
During probe, it was found that Shakunthala lived separately from her husband Damodh-aran . Her son met with a bike accident and committed suicide later after getting depressed over his losing one leg in the mishap. Her daughter too got divorce from her husband and shifted to the rented house of Shakunthala along with her two children.
Later her daughter Aswati developed an illicit relationship with Sajith, an SPCA inspector, who had married a native of Eroor. He even moved to the house of Shakunthala. Meanw-hile the latter met with an accident and broke her leg. She also suffered from chicken pox disease.
During argument, the victim threatened to reveal Sajith’s affair to his wife. Sajith then murdered her when she was alone in the house. He dumped the body in a drum and filled it with concrete mix. He sought help of four persons to dump it in the river.
“They were told the barrel contained bones of animals which was used for making iridium. It was transported to Kumbalam on a mini-truck and was dumped at an isolated location,” the officials said.
Meanwhile, the cops will subject Aswathy, the daughter, to polygraph test. “This is to determine if more persons are involved,” they said.
