Rajakumari, Idukki: The suspect in the murder of a plus-two girl student here has been found dead on Tuesday three days after he had fled after stabbing her to death.
Arun alias Anu, 28, was found hanging from a tree on the premises of a vacant house at Vandithara in Neendapara, near the Pallivasal Powerhouse of the KSEB. This is merely 150 metres away from the spot where the body of 17-year-old student Reshma was found on Friday night.
The police had searched this area several times in the past few days. Arun is suspected to have come to this spot on Monday night and killed himself, the police said, while adding he had earlier checked out the spot and had a clear understanding of the place. CCTV images showed that he had been to this place several times.
Suicide likely
A day earlier the police had recovered a suicide note, likely written by Arun, from his rented accommodation at Rajakumari. In it he had owned up to killing Reshma and indicated he would end his life.
In the note Arun had also revealed the murder motive. He was in love with Reshma for several years but decided to do away with her after she started avoiding him lately likely after another affair.
Reshma, the daughter of Rajesh and Jessy, had tried to back off from the relationship as Arun was her father's half-brother, and this led to the break-up and murder, the investigators stated.
The fateful day
Reshma, a student of the Bison Valley Government Higher Secondary School, had gone missing on Friday evening. Late in the night her body was found in a pool of blood at the isolated place, about 500 metre from her home.
She had left her home on Friday morning in her school uniform, but did not return at the usual time, prompting her parents to lodge a missing complaint with police.
In the preliminary investigation, the police had found that she was last seen with Arun by an autorickshaw driver. CCTV visuals also showed the duo on the village road.
Manhunt in Tamil Nadu too
The police were trying to trace Arun for the last three days.
He had destroyed his phone before allegedly committing the murder on Friday. The police had found parts of the phone near the powerhouse on Saturday. In the absence of crucial evidence in the murder, the police had formed several teams and extended their probe to other areas, including Tamil Nadu.
To find the murder weapon, even the bomb squad had carried out an inspection in the area using a metal detector. Though a drone was also utilised to carry out surveillance in the 7km radius, no evidence was found.
District police chief R Karuppasamy and Idukki DySP Francis Shelby had led the inspection on Monday.
