Rajakumari/Mumbai: The absconding prime suspects in the murder of a farmhouse employee in Kerala's Idukki district reportedly tried to commit suicide by poisoning themselves in a Maharashtra town after committing another murder.
Farmhouse manager Waseem, 32, and Liji, 29, who is the wife of the murdered man Rijosh, were found unconscious at a lodge at Panvel on the outskirts of Mumbai on Saturday afternoon more than a week after the initial crime. As Joan, the two-year-old daughter of Liji and Rijosh, was found dead it is suspected that the lovers on the run tried to commit suicide after killing the child.
Waseem and Liji have been admitted to a hospital at Panvel which is in the Raigad district of Maharashtra.
Hospital authorities said that Waseem, first accused in the case, was in a critical condition.
The arrest of Liji and Waseem would be recorded once their condition improves.
The duo had fled the state after allegedly murdering Rijosh and burying his body near the farmhouse at Shanthanpara in Idukki. Liji had also taken her toddler daughter Joan.
Liji has two other children with late Rijosh.
The Kerala cops located the duo in Mumbai by tracking down Waseem's WhatsApp message. Waseem's brother Fahadh, 25, was arrested the other day for helping the duo escape.
The local court in Kerala has remanded Fahadh.
Joan's autopsy would be held on Sunday.
The murder
Rijosh, a native of Shanthanpara, and Liji had started working at the farm a year ago. A native of Irinjalakuda, Waseem had been working as a manager at the farm for four years.
The police suspect that Waseem and Liji planned to kill Rijosh after he came to know of their affair.
Waseem began executing his plan by first giving money to Rijosh to buy liquor frequently. He was then able to turn Rijosh, who until then only drank occasionally, into an alcoholic.
Rajesh had consumed liquor on the evening of October 31, the day he was reported missing. His relatives then filed a missing person complaint with the police on November 1.
The police found Rijosh's body buried in a pit near a reservoir, which was at a distance of 100 m from the farm, last Thursday during a search.
After committing the murder, Waseem allegedly dug the pit near the reservoir and buried the body. Later he engaged the operator of a soil excavator to properly cover it on the pretext that a calf was buried in it.
However, a police dog tracked down the body and it was recovered.
An autopsy revealed that Rijosh was strangled to death by using a rope or cloth. There were no other injuries to his body. At the time of the death, Rijosh was in a semi-conscious state, as per the preliminary report of the doctor who conducted the post-mortem.
