Kannur/Perumbavoor: Five days after the brutal rape and murder of a 30-year-old law student at Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district, Police late on Tuesday claimed that they have nabbed the main suspect from Kannur.
According to television reports, the person, who is believed to be a neighbour of the victim, has been handed over to Perumbavoor police.
Meanwhile, ADGP K. Padmakumar said that the police have taken a number of suspects to their custody, but said he cannot confirm whether the actual culprit included in the group.
Earlier in the day, Police said two persons were taken into custody and were being questioned by a police team, headed by Ernakulam Range IG Mahipal Yadav. However, it was not yet known whether they are the real culprits.
"As per our information and as per our investigation, the accused is only one person. Some people have seen one person coming out of the house (of the victim)," Yadav said.
He dismissed suggestions that it was similar to the gangrape and murder of a Delhi student in 2012 as the accused in the case is one person.
"We have enlisted the number of suspects and are in the process of verification. We are working on all angles. We will be taking this investigation to the logical end," the IG added.
"As of now, we can't say whether the persons in custody are the culprits or not. We expect a breakthrough in the case in two days," Yadav said.
Both of them were taken to Perumbavoor DySP's office and subjected to interrogation.
Sources said that one of the detainees was a neighbour of the victim. Police also suspect the involvement of another neighbour in the case.
The senior officer said police were questioning two persons who have been brought to the DySP office this afternoon.
"They are not in custody. They have been brought here to cross-examine. We are verifying their movements on April 28," Yadav said to a query.
He said the woman, a law student, was subjected to rape and brutal assault using sharp edged weapons before being murdered at her house on April 28.
"There is sign of strangulation, there is sign of smothering and 13 injuries on neck, chest and several other places," he said.
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Perumbavoor continues to be tense
Meanwhile, Perumbavoor continued to be tense as angry protesters blocked home minister Ramesh Chennithala from visiting Jisha's mother, who is in hospital. The protesters, most of them workers of CPI's youth wing AIYF, stopped Chennithala's car. The minister then visited the victim's residence.
The crime has been dubbed as 'Kerala's Nirbhaya' for its chilling similarities to the gang-rape in 2012 of a young Delhi student on a moving bus.
The brutal murder has shocked the state, with women activists and students taking to the streets, demanding justice for the woman. Women activists were seen staging demonstrations near the Secretariat.
Kerala State Commission for Scheduled Caste and Tribes registered a suo motu case into the incident and asked police to submit a report on the progress of the probe by May 28 while the Kerala Human Rights Commission ordered that the probe be handed over to the Crime branch.
Taking suo motu cognisance of the case on the basis of media reports, state Human Rights Commission chairman justice J.B. Koshy issued a direction to the state DGP in this regard.
Condemning the crime as a 'heinous one', chairman of the state commission for scheduled castes and tribes, justice P.N. Vijayakumar said he has sought formation of a Special Investigation Team to probe the incident.
"The commission suo-motu registered a case into the incident based on the reports of the vernacular and national dailies. I asked DGP to form a SIT to probe into the case. I also asked police to submit a report of the progress of the case by May 28," justice Vijayakumar told PTI in Thiruvanathapuram. The commission also suggested that special mobile squads such as those operating in Wayanad, Palakkad and Kasaragod be formed for the safety of SCs and STs, in all districts of the state for the security of women and children irrespective of caste barriers.
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Culprits won't be spared: Chandy
Meanwhile, Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy said that the central zone IG will probe the case. He made it clear that the sternest action will be taken against the culprits behind this heinous act.
"Kerala is shocked by the brutal murder of a young woman. The culprits will be brought to book and the severest punishment will be ensured to those who involved into the incident," Chandy said.
Soon after details of the murder came to light, CPM had attacked the state government for its 'inaction' in the case.
"Police have failed to get any lead about the culprits even five days after the incident," CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had said on Monday.
Rejecting the charge, Chennithala had said that a 'scientific' probe was on into the incident and asserted that the culprits would be brought to book.
Deeply saddened: Rahul Gandhi
Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said that he is 'deeply saddened and pained' to learn of the brutal rape-murder.
The Congress leader also wrote on Twitter that he spoke to KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran to discuss the case. Gandhi added that the Kerala government will take swift action to bring the guilty to book.
Kummanam writes to CJ of HC
Kerala BJP chief Kummanam Rajasekharan slammed the state government over the lack of security to women and Dalits in the state.
"This is not the first such incident in Kerala," he told Onmanorama.
"Such cases have taken places in several other places earlier. Atrocities against women and Dalits have increased because the government has tried to trivialise these crimes instead of properly investigating them and bringing the perpetrators to book," the BJP leader said.
Kummanam added that he had written a letter to the chief justice of the Kerala High Court on Tuesday, urging him to ensure the protection of women and Dalits in the state. He said he will also visit the victims' kin.
Jisha knew the culprit?
The police team had suspected that the culprit(s) was known to the victim. The police reached the conclusion based on the timing of the crime and the statements they received.
Jisha was murdered at her one-room house between 2.00 pm and 5.00 pm on April 28, Thursday. She was a student of Government Law College, Ernakulam.
She was heard shouting at someone from the house that day, the police have been told.
This information has led the police to infer that the culprit(s) was known to the family. The migrant labourers, who were constructing a wall nearby, are also under the police scanner.
Heinous crime
Police are also probing the revenge angle. The victim's sister suspects that it was a calculated move from the part of the culprits to launch the attack when their mother had gone out for work, knowing that Jisha is alone.
Though it was the victim's mother who first saw the dead body, her statements to the police lack clarity.
(With inputs from agencies)