Kakkanad: It took only 15 hours for the police to nab the young woman who fled after allegedly killing her elder sister and setting her on fire in their house at North Paravur on Wednesday.
Jithu, 22, was absconding after her elder sister Vismaya was found charred to death on Wednesday. After a hunt, the police found her in Kochi that night itself, but it took a few more hours to confirm her identity.
Upon seeing her alone at night near the Menaka Junction in the heart of Ernakulam town, the police initially mistook her to be a girl who had fled from home. She was also heard speaking incoherently.
The police took her to shelter home, named "Theru Velicham", situated near the Ernakulam District Collectorate at Kakkanad. At first, she said she belonged to Lakshadweep. Though the Lakshadweep Police arrived on the scene in the morning, they could not identify her.
It was only on Thursday afternoon that the Paravur police got information about the person. Without revealing anything about the Vismaya case, the Paravur police asked Murugan, who runs the shelter home, to restrain her there until they reached the spot.
Murukan and his teammates went on an alert mode as Jithu said that she wanted to go with his male friend. She insisted that she should be released with immediate effect. But Murugan pacified her and asked her to remain there for some more time.
The Paravur police reached the shelter home when she was having "payasam" distributed by a resident of a nearby flat for the inmates. Though taken aback initially, Jithu finally went along with the police since she had no other option left.
Vismaya's post-mortem report revealed that she died due to burns. Since blood stains were found at the house, the police's assumption was that the sisters had a physical fight when their parents were away from home.
According to the police, Vismaya was against Jithu's love affair and they had fought over the matter before.
Earlier, the CCTV visuals collected by the police showed Jithu running out of the house. Jithu fled after taking Vismaya's mobile phone along with her. The police probe revolved around the signals from the cellular tower.
