Kasaragod: The Crime Branch investigation that led to the arrest of civil contractor Biju Paulose for the kidnapping and rape of an Adivasi girl has revealed that the accused created fake digital trail to thwart local police's probe.

Officers said the 2010 Station House Officer of Ambalathara Police, accused of delaying action on the missing person’s complaint, had fallen for the prime accused's trick. While the family remained convinced that something had gone wrong, the officer believed the Adivasi girl had simply moved to Ernakulam for work -- a version later echoed in a report to the High Court by Bekal DySP Sunil Kumar CK.

Now, nearly 15 years later, police say the suspect, Biju Paulose — arrested on Saturday — staged a Drishyam-style deception. Here’s how it began.

The girl, after finishing Class XII with strong grades, enrolled in a nursery teacher training course on June 9, 2009, according to her father. Her mother arranged for her to stay at Caritas Bhavan, a women’s hostel in Kanhangad.

Two months later, in August 2009, she left the hostel and moved into a house rented by Biju at Balla Kadapuram in Kanhangad. Besides the girl, the residents included her friend Aswathi, a nursing student; Jessy, a teacher; and Biju’s mother, Eliyamma.

According to the then Ambalathara sub-inspector, Biju introduced the girl as his sister to the house owner. However, the girl told neighbours that Biju was her husband and Eliyamma her mother-in-law, the officer had said. In December 2009, the girl, Eliyamma, and Biju shifted to another rented house -- Thoufeeque Quarters in Madiyan, on the outskirts of Kanhangad town. Court documents filed by the Ambalathara SI said the girl "...and Biju introduced themselves as husband and wife" to the new landlord.

The girl’s parents told Onmanorama they had no suspicions because she came home every Friday and left on Monday mornings.

But as she neared 18, tension reportedly grew between her and Biju, according to a confidential report filed before the High Court by Bekal DySP. He took charge of the case on July 4, 2021 -- 10 years after her disappearance -- and investigated for two and a half years before the Crime Branch took over in December 2024.

The report suggests she may have pushed for marriage, but the chances of Biju agreeing were "remote", as he was already married to Smitha, with whom he had two daughters. "He just wanted the girl as a sex toy," Crime Branch SP Prajeesh Thottathil said at the Saturday press conference.

On June 6, 2010 -- the day the girl was last seen or heard -- she called Biju’s phone 37 times, the DySP’s report said. In the days leading up to June 6, she had made significantly more calls to Biju and Eliyamma than usual. "We can presume there was a dispute or heated conversation between them during this period,” the report said.

Cell tower data showed Biju arriving at the house in the evening on June 6, and staying until 8 pm.

Bekal DySP concluded that either the girl died by suicide and Biju disposed of the body, or Biju killed her and concealed the body.

The police also recovered voice messages from Biju, in which he urged his mother and sister to tell the police they could not remember the events, claiming it had been 10 years.

Biju, defended by high-profile lawyer BA Aloor (who died on April 30), told the court that his wife and mother did not get along, so he rented the Kanhangad house for his mother. He claimed he employed the Adivasi girl as a home nurse to care for Eliyamma.

After June 6, 2010, Biju spread the story that she had left for Ernakulam after getting a job with Vodafone.

Crime Branch SP said Biju travelled to Kochi with the girl’s phone or transferred her SIM to his device. "In Ernakulam, he installed a Chinese app to mimic a female voice,” he explained. Biju called the girl’s father, intending to use the app, but hung up, fearing he would recognise the fake voice. Instead, he called the father's friend, using the app to say the girl was undergoing computer training and would be unreachable for three months. "The friend was asked to relay this to her father," Thottathil said.

The calls and travel to Kochi were an attempt to mislead investigators -- a real-life echo of the movie Drishyam, though that film wouldn’t be released for another three years, the officer said.

IG Prakash said that although Biju studied only up to Class 10, he gained considerable legal knowledge after the girl’s disappearance, using it to delay the investigation.

A month after she vanished, Biju left for Sharjah, returning only a year later. Ambalathara police's slow investigation was further hit after the High Court in 2011 ordered police not to harass him or his mother, said police.

In January 2022, the High Court directed police not to summon Biju for three days during his daughter’s wedding.

Thekkan Sunil Kumar of Kerala Pattika Jana Samajam said his organisation helped the girl’s mother file a habeas corpus petition in October 2021 after police had marked the case undetected (UD).

At one point, the owner of an evening newspaper allegedly offered the family Rs 25 lakh to drop the case. "The parents and elder sister were at home. All three rejected the offer and demanded to know what happened to the girl," Sunil Kumar said.

In November 2024, when local police made no progress, Justices Devan Ramachandran and M B Snehalatha expressed concern: "We note with some consternation that this matter has been pending for nearly four years now, but that the (girl) has not yet been traced."

The court, however, closed the habeas corpus petition, declaring the girl dead based on Bekal DySP’s report, but kept the petition open for a CBI inquiry.

In December 2024, the judges handed the case to the State Crime Branch, ordering a report within three months. When the case came up for hearing on April 9, the Crime Branch had no report. "At noon, while the court was hearing us, a Crime Branch team rushed to the girl’s home in Ennapara and took her parents to the District Hospital for blood samples. They turned off the parents’ phones, saying everything could not be shared," Sunil Kumar said. The government pleader told the court that the investigation team obtained certain vital leads and prayed the matter to be listed after the summer vacation.

A week later, police contacted the girl’s elder sister in Ernakulam with the same request. But she was prepared and asked if they had found a body. Police told her they had exhumed the skeletal remains of a woman.

Police believe Biju took the body to his hometown of Panathur, 40 km from Kanhangad, and buried it in a stream beneath the Pavithram Kayam hanging bridge.

After two monsoons, the skeletal remains washed into the mouth of the Chandragiri River. "It’s hard to believe, but we will wait for the DNA report. Still, I feel the police rushed with the arrest of Biju because they wanted to show something when the court reopens after the vacation on Monday. We were planning to file a memo again seeking CBI inquiry," said the Dalit leader.
This is the second of a two-part series on a Dalit family’s 15-year fight for answers about their missing daughter -- a case marked by institutional apathy, evasions, and a police investigation that came too late