Alappuzha: Ending almost a week of mystery over the murder of NRI Joy V. John, police on Monday formalised the arrest of his son Sherin John, who was detained on Saturday. He was produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Chengannur, by evening and was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
District police chief P. Ashok Kumar said he confessed in the wee hours of Monday at the end of two days of constant interrogation that he shot his father dead, and the motive was enmity over property sharing. He explained how he killed him, after giving contradictory statements letting his interrogators not to arrive at a conclusion for last two days.
"The murder was premeditated," the officer said. He was not in good terms with his father for years. He had long parted ways with the family, and he was living alone in Chengannur. When Mr John along with his wife and elder children came home last week from the US on a vacation, the two had an altercation over properties.
He always feared he would be left out during partition, and it was growing in him. He killed him on Thursday while they were returning from Thiruvananthapuram after repairing his car.
He shot at his father with a pistol that he stole from him. He had always kept a rifle in his possession, and he did not know it was missing. He fired four times while the car reached Mulakuzha near Chengannur. After that, he took pictures of the body on his mobile phone and brought it to the godown owned by the deceased in Chengannur. He cut the body into six pieces, after his attempts to burn the corpse failed, and bundled into gunny sacks.
The limbs were dumped in Pampa River. The torso and the head were recovered from different places. While the head was unearthed from a dump yard in Veloor near Changanassery, a portion of the leg was found from the Pampa River. Mr John took his son on the trip to the state capital as his driver was on leave, the police said.
Head, torso of murdered NRI found
The head of Joy V John, and Non-resident Indian hailing from Chengannur who was allegedly shot dead by his son over property dispute, was found besides the Chingavanam electro chemicals on Monday afternoon. The police found the head of the deceased from near the Chingavanam electro chemicals in a search conducted by them after the accused and the son of Mr Joy, Sherin John in his statement mentioned that it was left somewhere near Chingavanam.
Sherin John standing besides the head of Joy V John (inside the plastic wrap), which he had discarded near Chingavanam electro chemicals after shooting the latter following a property dispute. (Photo: DC)
The head portion was in a degenerated condition infected by the worms, said sources from the Chingavanam police station. The police also brought the accused Sherin along with them when they retrieved the head of the deceased. The accused was found to be in a unaffected mood, said locals and the police.
The torso of the deceased was found near the Changanacherry bypass earlier on this day morning by the police. Hundreds of people thronged at both the scenes after they came to know of the incident. Sherin disclosed to the police that he killed his father following a dispute over property. The accused confessed executing the crime to the police.
