Kozhikode: On Sunday morning, local residents spotted the body of a man lying opposite an autorickshaw at Panikkar road in Kozhikode. It looked like he had been hacked to death.
The police identified the deceased as Nalukudi Parambil Srikant (47), who was employed as an auto driver. The police arrested Dhanesh,33 from Chungam near Westhill in less than two days. To begin with, the cops had a witness.
He saw a man hurriedly riding off on a two wheeler and it looked like he carried a blood stained cleaver.
Srikant, was an accused in another murder case registered at Elathur police station. The initial probe veered towards possibilities of a revenge murder. The police soon ruled it out. Srikant was also an accused in several other criminal cases.
The police looked for anyone who harboured a grudge. The cops asked around and learnt that Srikant had a verbal spat with his relative Dhanesh. It was a solid lead.
The cops dug deeper. A few days ago, Srikant's car had been set on fire. A random check of CCTV visuals proved the presence of the same two-wheeler near the place of murder and the spot where the car was set ablaze.
The cops confirmed the model of the two-wheeler and the owner. They also corroborated that Dhanesh and Srikant had got into an altercation. Srikant had allegedly misbehaved with Dhanesh's mother which was the provocation. They had a spat over the issue twice.
On the night of the murder, Dhanesh tailed Srikant. He found him having liquor with his two friends at Vellayil Harbour area.
Dhanesh waited till one of his friends left and Srikant and the other person dozed off. He then approached Srikant who was in deep sleep and hacked him to death.
He fled the spot on his two-wheeler and on the way he threw away the cleaver near a pier. ''We have to get him into custody for further questioning and evidence collection. Then we may recover the arm he used for the crime,'' said G Hareesh Inspector of Police ,Vellayil Station .
The police said that they have filed an application to do an identification parade. The investigation team, including City Crime Squad, Special Action Force and Vellayil police could solve the crime in 36 hours.
