Kollam: The Pappachan murder case has all the ingredients of a crime thriller — greed, breach of trust, a woman bank manager, her hired henchmen, and extortion. What was initially considered to be a road accident turned out to be a planned murder after the police examined the footage from CCTV cameras installed near the scene of the allegedly staged mishap.
The police arrested five people, including the private bank manager, where C Pappachan, 82, had parked his retirement benefits of approximately Rs 80 lakh as fixed deposit. They were arrested on Thursday, August 9, months after the octogenarian's death on May 24. A complaint filed by Pappachan's daughter proved crucial in the case.
A former BSNL employee, Pappachan had gone to the bank at Olayil, a sub-locality in Kollam's Thevally, with a complaint that he had not been receiving the interest on his deposits. Following his complaint, the manager, Saritha, planned his murder with the help of her colleague Anoop.
They planned the murder knowing well that no one would claim Pappachan's money if he died. The accused knew that Pappachan, estranged from his family, had been living alone. Saritha and Anoop were close to Pappachan and had earlier convinced him to deposit his retirement benefits in their bank. The deceased had previously deposited the money in other banks.
To eliminate Pappachan, Saritha contacted Animon, now arraigned as the first accused. They were colleagues in a firm five years ago. They roped in autorickshaw driver Maheen to carry out their plan.
Animon and his gang first met Saritha on May 16. The contract, locally called a 'quotation', was fixed for Rs 2 lakh, and the woman gave the gang an advance of Rs 40,000 the same day at a bar near Aashramam Maidan.
The gang initially planned to knock Pappachan down with an autorickshaw, and decided to implement it on May 20. However, torrential rain extended Pappachan's life by a few days. Though the gang of contract killers tried to execute their plan on May 21 and 22, they failed in carrying it out. This, apparently, enraged Saritha.
She contacted Animon, and threatened to hand over the contract to someone more 'efficient' if his gang could not kill Pappachan. The threat worked. Animon took a car from Hashif, now in remand. Anoop volunteered to bring Pappachan out of his residence. On May 23 noon, he brought the older man out of the house on the pretext of having tea with Saritha. Pappachan was reportedly told that the woman was waiting near Aashramam.
Pappachan, who used a bicycle, took it out to meet Saritha. Meanwhile, Anoop had informed Animon that Pappachan has come out of his house. Both men on two-wheelers took the road in front of the Sree Narayana Cultural Complex. As they went past the car which Animon had taken from Hashif, Anoop sped ahead, leaving Pappachan behind. Animon knocked down Pappachan with the car, and ran the vehicle over the fallen man, and fled.
Even as Pappachan remained bleeding on the road, Maheen reached the scene in his autorickshaw. He refused passersby's request to take Pappachan to a hospital in his three-wheeler. Later, an ambulance took the grievously injured man to the district hospital. He died at a private hospital the next day.
Following Pappachan's death, Animon, Hashif and Maheen threatened Saritha, saying they would inform the police. Saritha was forced to share around Rs 19 lakh with the trio. Hashif alone took Rs 3 lakh. A contract killing fixed for Rs 2 lakh, thus became one of Rs 19 lakh. The police said the accused men would have threatened Saritha for more money had they not been apprehended.