Thiruvananthapuram: A dispute over money led to the murder of former Ranji Trophy cricketer and former deputy manager of State Bank of India (SBI) K Jayamohan Thampi, the police said.
Thampi’s body was found lying in his son Ashwin’s home in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday morning. The police have arrested Ashwin for the alleged murder. He has been remanded and sent to jail.
Ashwin (34) has confessed to the crime and there are no other suspects in the case, Fort police inspector K R Biju said.
Thampi had good income that included his pension. But his ATM and credit cards were with Ashwin, the police said.
Thampi demanded the cards back when Ashwin did not give him money when he demanded. This resulted in fisticuffs between the two, which ended in the murder.
The police said both were drunk. Ashwin placed Thampi against the wall and hit him on his nose. Thampi fell down. He suffered injuries on the nose and the nose bridge was broken.
When Thampi tried to get up, Ashwin pushed him again to the ground. Thampi fell on his face and suffered serious injury on the forehead. He died because he did not get any medical attention, the police said.
Thampi was suffering from severe liver cirrhosis. His wife Anita had died two years ago.
From Saturday morning, when the incident happened, till Monday when the police found the body, Ashwin was drinking non-stop in a room without even having food, the police said.
Ashwin worked in the Gulf as a chef. However, after he lost his job, he started staying with his father at their Manakkad residence in Thiruvananthapuram. Although married, he was not living with his wife, the police said.
The neighbours told the police that there was constant drinking and bickering in the house.
The police had taken some members of Thampi’s drinking group into custody. However, they were let off after it became clear they had no role in the murder, the police said.
The police had suspected that Thampi’s four sovereign gold chain and his locker key were missing after the incident. They, however, later found the chain and the key in the house itself.
Neighbours heard the dispute
The dispute that led to the murder happened about 11am on Saturday. Earlier in the day, one of Thampi’s friends bought Ashwin liquor after taking money from him.
It was after this that Thampi demanded money from Ashwin and the two had an argument over the ATM and credit cards.
A little while after assaulting his father and leaving him unconscious, Ashwin dragged him to a hall inside the house. A neighbour had heard the dispute that happened in the sit-out, the police said. Some neighbours also saw him dragging his father inside, they said.
In the afternoon, Ashwin called up his younger brother Ashiq and told him that Thampi had fallen down and needed medical attention, the police said. Later, Ashiq called Ashwin back but he did not pick the call. He tried calling the next day, too, but Ashwin’s phone was switched off, Ashiq, a resident of PTP Nagar, told the police.
They said Ashwin went out after the incident to buy liquor and he consumed it non-stop that night and the next day, too.
On Monday morning, a Kudumbashree activist who had come to clear the garbage from the house smelt a foul odour coming from the house. He called the tenants living on the top portion of the house and found the body. They also found Ashwin lying semi-conscious, the police said.
Ashwin continued drinking alcohol for three days without eating anything.
The police took Ashwin into custody on the day they found the body. However, they let him go to attend his father’s final rites.
The police took him into custody again on Tuesday after they got the post-mortem report. Ashwin admitted to the murder during questioning, they said.
Thampi, a native of Alappuzha, represented Kerala in the Ranji Trophy between 1982 and 1984, playing six matches. He was a wicket-keeper batsman.
He was also a guest player for the erstwhile State Bank of Travancore (SBT). This stint helped his get a job in the bank where he was a deputy general manager. He played for the bank for about 20 years. The bank was later merged with the SBI.
