Thiruvananthapuram: Former Neyyatinkara DySP B. Harikumar, accused in a murder case, was found hanging in his house at Veyiloor at Kallambalam on the outskirts of the city on Tuesday morning. The police suspect that it is a case of suicide.
Harikumar, 51, was absconding since November 5 night after the death of Neyyatinkara native Sanal Kumar following an altercation with him. Harikumar had allegedly pushed Sanal to the road and the latter was hit by a car.
The DySP was subsequently placed under suspension and the Crime Branch was searching for him. Harikumar leaves his wife Lekha and son Athul, a degree student. His another son Akhil died a few years back.Harikumar’s mother-in-law Lalitha Bhai, who was staying near his house, found the body around 8.30 a.m. Lekha and Athul were staying at Harikumar’s ancestral house at Kallara near Kilimanoor over the last one week. A pet dog was at the Veyiloor house, which was lying vacant, and Lekha’s mother and other relatives staying nearby used to feed it.
On Tuesday morning, when Lalitha came to feed the dog, the dog was barking near a store room on the rear side of the house. She checked the room and found Harikumar hanging. She immediately called her son Reju Kumar staying nearby.
Reju Kumar alerted Crime Branch SP K.M. Antony, who is probing the Sanal Kumar murder case. A posse of police led by Thiruvananthapuram rural SP Ashok Kumar reached the spot.
Harikumar was wearing blue jeans and a T-shirt with red and black stripes. Two mobile phones were also recovered from the store room. Two suicide notes, one addressed to his wife and another to his brother, were recovered from the spot. Though the details were not known, it was learnt that he had mentioned personal matters in the notes.
The inquest was carried out in the presence of sub-collector K. Inbasekhar. Sources close to the family said that Harikumar might have reached the house in the late hours of Monday. A flower was also found kept on the burial place of his son on the premises of the house.
Post-mortem examination of the body was conducted at the Thiruvananthapuram medical college hospital and the body was taken home for cremation.
Harikumar entered police service in the 1990s as a constable and cleared the sub-inspector exam in 2003. He was promoted as circle inspector in 2008 and as DySP in 2016. His first posting as DySP was at Neyyatinkara.
