Rajakumari (Idukki): The police have recorded the arrest of Israbel, 30, and his wife, Kapila, 23, natives of Cheriyar, in connection with the murder of a plantation owner and his worker.
The police were scouting Wayanad and the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border to apprehend main accused Kulaparachal Panjiparambil Bobin.
The couple had been in police custody after cardamom estate owner Jacob Varghese, 40, and worker Muthaiah, 50, were found dead on Sunday.
The police said Bobin stayed at Kapila's Santhanpara residence after committing the crime.
The couple had reportedly admitted to the police that the crime was committed by Bobin.
The police recovered the 143 kg of cardamom which Bobin had taken away from the estate, from a trader in Moolathura.
The trader told the police that he had paid Rs 1.70 lakh to Bobin.
Two blood-stained gunnysacks which Bobin had abandoned in the Cheriyar river had been recovered.
The police said one of the two guns found at the estate residence was licensed in the name of Jacob Varghese's father, K K Varghese. One did not have a licence. Both the firearms will be sent for forensic examination even though these were not the 'murder weapons.'
The police were also collecting details of those who sought treatment at hospitals on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.
District police chief, Idukki, K B Venugopal; and deputy superintendent of police, Munnar, S. Suneesh Babu, were heading the investigation.
