Adimali (Idukki): Manikunnel Binoy Xavier of Panickankudy, 48, who was accused of killing Sindhu, 45, of Kamakshy Thamadom and burying her body in the kitchen of his house , was arrested by the police on Monday.
The police, who came in a private vehicle wearing plainclothes, nabbed Binoy when he came out from a teak-bamboo plantation at Perijankutty, where he had been staying for the last three days. He was about to leave Kerala.
During interrogation, Binoy confessed that he had beaten her to death before burying her body under the kitchen of his house.
Sindhu, who was estranged from her husband, had been close to Binoy for the last five years and stayed with him. Binoy was infuriated as Sindhu started getting close with her husband again. He was also suspicious about the calls received by Sindhu from some others, leading to the murder.
He committed the murder on August 11 at 12.30 a.m after sending Sindhu's 12-year-old son to her sister's house. Apart from beating and strangling her, he tried to set her aflame by pouring kerosene. Finally, he sat on her chest and pressed hard on her face. In the melee, her ribs were broken.
Once, Sindhu lost consciousness, he dug the kitchen platform and made a pit. After removing her dress and golden ornaments, she was buried under the kitchen floor. Since her face was open, he covered it with a plastic sheet. Then he filled the pit with mud and restored the kitchen platform to the earlier form and pasted cow dung over it. He also lit the kitchen burner again.
Binoy, who left Panickankudy when Sindhu's relatives filed a complaint with the police, stayed on the sides of a big rock in Perinjankutty. Then he came to Annakkara with the aim of leaving Kerala. He lived in many parts of Kerala before crossing over to Tamil Nadu.
Binoy came back again to Kerala after realising that Sindhu's body was not yet unearthed. Binoy's aim was to procure more money and then leave Kerala again. On September 3, the day when Sindhu's body was fished out from Binoy's house, he was staying at the rock side at the Perinjankutty Plantation.
However, Binoy, suffering from respiratory problems, found it tough to remain in the forest area because of the extreme cold climate. In the meantime, the police had been tracking him by assessing the location of his mobile phone. The police came to know about Binoy's location in the forest area when he made a call to his lawyer from the new number. Finally, he was caught when he was walking along the road outside the Perinjankutty Plantation. He was aiming to cross over to Tamil Nadu via Kambam.
