Thiruvananthapuram: Accusing the crime branch of trying to hush up the grave failures the local police had committed while probing the mysterious deaths in the Koodathil family, a woman relative of the deceased demanded a CBI investigation into the deaths over a period of 26 years from 1991 to 2017.
The woman, retired under-secretary Prasanna Kumari, said the police had not arrested anyone in connection with the April 2, 2017 death of Jayamadhavan Nair, despite a forensic report suggesting murder.
No one was arrested after the crime branch registering a murder case and submitting the chargesheet to the court, and the suspects making contradictory statements, she said.
Five different investigating officers have so far probed the case. It has been alleged that the police were helping the suspects. Stating that efforts were on to sabotage the probe, Prasanna Kumari submitted a memorandum to the chief minister, demanding a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Seven deaths had happened over a period of 26 years — between 1991 and 2017 — at Umamandiram, the ancestral house of the prosperous family at Karamana in the Kerala capital. The seven deceased were Gopinathan Nair; his wife Sumukhiamma; the couple's three children Jayasree, Jayabalakrishnan and Jayaprakash; their kin Unnikrishnan Nair and Jayamadhavan Nair.
Jayamadhavan was the last to die under mysterious circumstances.
Prasanna Kumari, the complainant, is the wife of Velupillai, another brother of Gopinathan Nair and and Narayana Pillai. Their son is Unnikrishnan Nair.
The Koodathil family held properties worth crores of rupees in Thiruvananthapuram city. The Thiruvananthapuram district crime branch unit took up the probe based on complaints by Velu Pillai's daughter-in-law Prasanna Kumari, and a neighbour-activist Anil Kumar.
The crime branch primarily looked into the suspected roles of two caretakers, Raveendran Nair and Sahadevan, in the murder.
Why Prasanna Kumari fears sabotage
The post-mortem and viscera examinations reported that Jayamadhavan had died of head injuries. Blood clots were found on his face. The forensic tests were carried out to ascertain the cause of injuries. A blood-stained wooden plank was found at the scene.
Though Jayamadhavan's brother Jayaprakash had died vomiting blood, a post-mortem examination was not done.
The police took no initiative against an autorickshaw driver, despite identifying him. He had taken Jayamadhavan's body to the hospital. This has been pointed out to be the major failure on the part of the investigators.
The Karamana police, who initially probed the death, took into consideration the statement of a decoy driver, allegedly produced by the suspects. During interrogation, the district crime branch punched holes in his statement, and identified him as a dummy. A video, in which the driver admitted to being the decoy, too, was recorded. The driver later revised his statement saying he had lied after caretaker Raveendran Nair promised him Rs 5 lakh.
Meanwhile, investigators changed. The present investigation team is not considering the driver's video statement.
While deposing before the investigators, Prasanna Kumari had stated that Raveendran Nair hiring an autorickshaw with the help of caretaker Sahadevan to shift Jayamadhavan to the hospital was suspicious, since an auto was available in the immediate neighbourhood. The present team of investigators have not taken her statement seriously.
Raveendran Nair reportedly investigators that he had found Jayamadhavan on the floor next to the bed at Koodathil House on April 2, 2017, and he and maid Leela shifted the man to the medical college hospital in an autorickshaw.
After doctors had declared Jayamadhavan dead, Raveendran said he returned along with Leela, but alighted at the Karamana police station to report the incident, while the maid proceeded home in the same autorickshaw.
Leela, however, provided a different version. The woman told investigators that she returned alone while Raveendran Nair stayed back at the hospital saying he had to arrange for a post-mortem examination. Though the previous investigation team had found the contradiction in the statements, the present team did not take it seriously.
Additionally, the complainants pointed out that the Karamana police had failed in probing Leela, who had cleaned the Jayamadhavan's room after her return from hospital, and ignored the blood stains. They alleged that the probe was being sabotaged to hide the failures of Karamana police.
